Not that this has anything to do with soiled panties being re-sold, but... over drinks this weekend, had this weird conversation with some girlfriends about clothes our moms used to buy us when we were kids. Now keep in mind, this was the late 70s/early 80s, so the pickins were slim for a kid, but we all had, at one point in our lives:
- bell bottom pants that were wide enough to hide a midget in each leg - overalls, sometimes baggy - jumpsuits (my friend commented on her red jumpsuit with Kermit sewn along one side and down the leg-- which reminded me of a kid I knew in elementary school that had the same motif, except instead of Kermit, it was Shaun Cassidy) - turtlenecks under EVERYTHING-- long sleeve sweaters, jumpers, sweater vests. - footie pajamas, and in that really heavy fleece material, which only made sense to wear if your house was 20 below every night, otherwise you'd roast in the damn things. - Buster Brown shoes (I never had them, but one of my friends said she had an old picture of her wearing hers, and another friend asked "what were wrong with your feet that you had to wear 'special shoes'?")
Then we went off on a tangent to talk about Garanimals. Thankfully, my mother never succumbed to that demon, but one of my friend's moms had. And she said she could remember going to this woman's house in rural Pennsylvania, who actually sold Garanimals out of her house. Of course, I joked, "what, did they fall off the back of a truck or something?" which apparently wasn't too far off the mark. And she said she could remember her mom shuttling her, her friend and her friend's mom over to this woman's house, to try on clothes, all the while, the man of the house was in the other room watching televised sports or somesuch. Later when my friend commented to her mom about it, and how weird the whole situation was, both her mom and her friend's mom said unequivocally "but you couldn't beat the DEAL!" Which, for whatever reason, made me laugh really really hard.
I did have the misfortune, however, of getting some remarkably shitty clothes when I was in middle school. I think my mom thought she was doing me a favor by finding some deal on something and surprising me with it after school. It was inevitably something I'd groan about (internally of course) upon seeing, but I'd have to wear the damned thing at least once to satisfy my mom. Another friend of mine was way smarter than me, and said she used to go to the store and put the things she wanted on layaway, and then tell her mom about them later, so she always got what she wanted.
Don't get me wrong, I ain't complaining, but it seems kids have WAY more cooler choices today.
|