Dutchmans Pants???

To name a soap after something as random as "Dutchmans Pants" seems rather odd, but there is a story behind everything....

One of the few things that I remember about the wisdom passed on to me by my Swedish grandmother were her predictions of the weather. She always said you could tell a storm was coming when the wind blew and you could see the undersides of leaves. Once, after a seemingly endless cycle of rainy weather she told me to look up into the sky and see whether there was enough blue to make a pair of Dutchman's pants. If so, then it was sure to clear very soon.

This cute little piece of folklore has proven over the years to be true. Pondering it lately I realized that it was a perfect metaphor for the various storms in our lives. It is in persevering through the tough times and looking out for the positive signs of change that we are able to hold onto hope and optimism. My grandmother's own life bore eloquent witness to this. Back in the late 1800's her mother was a sixteen year-old girl who suddenly found herself pregnant. She was unmarried at the time. For fear of bringing disgrace upon her family she was sent far away across the sea to Boston to live with relatives. Soon after she after met and married my great-grandfather.

I often marvel at the courage of that young girl and the fear she must have experienced in her "crisis pregnancy", alone in a strange land. At the same time I cannot help but think of girls in similar straits today and how so many, seduced by the ease of a convenient choice, make a decision in sharp contrast to the choice of my great grandmother: to give birth to the child that already lived in her womb. Thank you Great-grandma from me and the ever growing number of persons enabled by your choice to receive the gift of life. We love you!

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SBI!