Make It Last

Spring was here. Warmth at last, and Easter around the corner. Another ritual to endure. The annual trip to Robert Hall, the mens' and boys clothing store in Glassboro, to be put through the torture of being fitted for your new suit.
I and every other boy in Gloucester county would be dragged to Robert Hall's by their parents to purchase your one and only suit. You would wear these "special" clothes for very important moments in your life: funerals, class pictures, church and/or Sunday School, Easter and going out to dinner.
You had to dress up for these events, and you had to endure several hours of valuable TV time wasted, standing in a store while your mother decided what you would wear in the coming year. The endless trying on of jackets and pants that had to be altered, the legs so long they tripped you as you tried to walk.
"Try this one, no the other one, and stand up straight so we can see how it fits." And on and on and on, until finally a decision was made.
But you weren't free, no not yet, because your brother and then Dad would go through it all and you had to wait even longer, and Bugs Bunny was over and The Rifleman was already on, but maybe we'll get home in time to see Wyatt Earp- maybe.
Your suit had to last the whole year, so you had to be careful when you wore it. Just like your "good Shoes" and your school clothes. Money was tight, so take care of your things and make them last.
One pair of sneakers, maybe two pairs of shoes so take care of them.
A good solid pair of dungarees that had to be washed about a thousand times before they would get soft, and if you got a hole in your knee Mom would fix that with one of those iron-on patches that were as rough as sandpaper.
You got most of your toys at Christmas and maybe your birthday, so watch how you play with them and always put them away when you're done. I loved my toys; they were precious items and I treated them with care, even the junkyard items I got from Uncle Pat were given their proper respect.
Your bicycle would have to last several years, so keep the chain greased and the frame polished and don't run over any glass or nails, 'cause money don't grow on trees.
Comic books read over and over until you knew every word, studied every panel till they were burned in your mind.
We learned to value what we had, we didn't take things for granted because we never knew how long it would be before we could get something new.
Except clothes. Your new suit would come every spring, and school clothes would come every August. The two constants of life.
The rest would just have to last.