High School Fashion Accessory

Do your kids have everything they need to head back to school? One of my son Justin's school supplies brought back a very, very real, vivid painful childhood memory!

At 83, Mom still sews. She sews her own clothes; and, over the years she's sewn me a closet full of Hawaiian shirts. She just got herself a new sewing machine that is supposed to be less complicated and easier to use.

Justin needed a new backpack. He's been lugging around a Vikings backpack for the last couple of years that was starting to show some wear. It was torn and shredded a little. So, it was time for a new one. He and Cathy went out the other night to get a new one.

That reminded me of growing up. When I was in high school, Mom threatened promised to sew me a backpack for school. She had the pattern and the material all ready to go. It would have been a real conversation starter!

Yeah. Mom was going to sew me a yellow backpack. Outside of Green Bay, I'm not sure if either Beiber or Timberlake could have rocked a yellow backpack in high school. We didn't live in Green Bay. We lived in a suburb on the south side of Chicago. A pretty quiet neighborhood, but still a pretty tough town. We still don't forget the season the White Sox played in pajamas! Mom was never a sports fan, which is why she probably didn't pick NFL orange or navy blue colors; NBA or NHL red and black; or, blue or black from Major League Baseball.

As it turned out, Mom never finished that sewing project. She threatened promised Dad that she was going to sew him a two piece suit.  That never happened either.

I ended up going through high school with no backpack. Which meant that I had to walk through the driving blizzard uphill both ways to school - with no backpack. So now, I can remind my kids of how easy they have it compared to back in my day!