Reason #56489 why I have the best wife ever.

I got the “What do you want for Christmas” email from my mom and mother-in-law about a month before Christmas. I easily filled this up with books, movies, and random other things on my Amazon wishlist and really hadn’t put a whole lot of thought into things (argyle socks were indeed on the list… don’t judge…). So, much to my surprise, as my “big” gift from my wife, she tells me a story, which I will paraphrase below.

I bought a pair of jeans when we played at Parachute festival in New Zealand that were quite possibly my favorite pair of jeans I’ve ever owned. If you saw me in 09, odds are I was wearing them. Needless to say, I really really really wanted to get another pair. So, I looked at the tag and lo and behold, they happened to be a little brand called Lee. I know what you’re thinking, Lee is what your dad wears on the farm and your mom wears as mom jeans that she bought in the 80s from a JC Penny. Yes, I understand.

However, i’d like you to look at these two websites, Lee Australia (http://www.leejeans.com.au/Default.aspx) and Lee US (http://www.lee.com/LEE_STORE_US/en_US/home.html). Yes they’re the same parent company but Lee in Australia and New Zealand goes from JC Penny to Urban Outfitters vibe. As soon as I got back from overseas, I realized I should have bought more than a pair. For a while I kept looking online to see if anybody had the pair I wanted (the L1 stovepipe), only to find that Lee AU has absolutely no branches over here, and they act like a completely different company. I eventually got so frustrated that I gave up.

Which brings us to Christmas. Come to find out, Anna called Lee AU and got a list of stores that carried the jeans. She proceeded to call almost every store in New Zealand and Australia and finally found a store that was willing to try to ship over here. Not only did she do that, but they special ordered me the color I wanted that isn’t even made anymore, a raw denim in dark wash. So yeah. I have the best wife ever.

love,
Mark