It's Raining Men or We Don't Need No Stinkin Men!

Ahh...the pants! Even if I sit around my house for the next month staring at my beautiful red walls and wondering if "this is all there is???", the pants have already provided me with more inspiration and hope for a new (and improved) life than I could ever imagine!
Day 1: After putting on the pants in a restroom at an outdoor bar (after a very large frozen cocktail, mind you) the magic instantly started. Even by the time I returned to my bar stool, my friends informed me that we had been approached with free passes to one of the best clubs in town. Hum...strange...maybe there really is something to this magic of the pants. I am still skeptical. After all, how many woman are approached in Vegas with free passes to clubs??? Then another attractive man approaches us...more passes to another nightclub. Ok...maybe this isn't just a coincidence. I decide to take a leap of faith and become a believer.
The rest of the afternoon just kept getting better. More looks from cute men and even an intense locking eye stare with a hot Australian in a pink cowgirl hat an boa (I love a man who isn't afraid to express his feminine side!). And just a general feeling of college spring break was in the air and it has been a long time since any of us have experienced that! All because of the pants???
My mood continued to rise, as we primped for the night (I forgot how much fun primping and anticipating a night out can be with a bunch of girls...nothing like it!). Meliss introduced me to my first Beyonce song...Irreplaceable, which quickly became my anthem for female strength. "To the left. To the left. Everything you own in a box to the left." If Beyonce can survive, so can I! (Granted, she does have a lot more money, a more smokin bod, the face of a goddess and an amazing voice, but I am not letting that get me down.)
Then...hilarious cab ride, with Anika doing with she does best! Up the elevator, down the hall, and there is McDreamy! I know Meliss said Joey's older brother was cute, but that had to be the understatement of the year. Thanks to Michele for doing what she does best (being a mother) and making sure I get to sit by the handsome man. I guess you all know the rest, because I cannot stop talking about my amazing night! The pants couldn't have introduced me to a sweeter, kinder, better guy (who, by the way, is ALSO a great dancer, singer, and just downright wonderful!).
So what have I learned from the pants thus far this month...
I think the pants sent me about a million signs that night (maybe with my mother's help, since that is what I asked her to do the day she died???) The most obvious one (if I hadn't noticed all of the more subtle attempts) was the man standing alone in that beautiful Venetian rotunda with frescos painted throughout and covering the ceiling (Ala Michelangelo). I had just had an amazing and passionate goodnight kiss and was floating back to my room. It was as if he was waiting for me. He asks "did you fall in love tonight?" And without missing a beat, I replied, "maybe a little." Maybe I decided that night to love myself a little more???
Other signs that life goes on. Signs that I deserve to find love again (whether is be with McDreamy or some other great guy remains to be seen). but more importantly, the pants showed me who I really am...deep down to my core. Despite what has happened to me, I still am the eternal optimist I have always been. I have never been a victim and I never will be. I still believe in love in the world. Love between a man and a woman that perhaps I have never known. But also, all I have learned this year about the love between true friends. It may sound cheesy, but like the Grinch, I think my heart has grown three sizes this year because of all of you. And that can't change. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks.