GrowingUP:The Metaphysical Nature Of Cutoffs...

Once upon a time, in the not so distant past...the 70's, life was different. I know, I know, every generation says that, but I mean it. As I have mentioned, my oldest child is leaving for college this month and I therefore, more than usual I mean, have a sense of urgency to make this summer last. I have always loved summer vacation from school. I love having my kids home. I love the heat and even the stickiness of summer time. And dirty feet. Nothing gives me joy as much as seeing the absolute filth on the bottoms of my kids' feet. THAT is the measure of a good summer!  I love the laziness of it. The carefree days spent doing almost nothing and virtually everything all at once. I feel more myself during the summer than any other time of year. And that my friends in a very round about way brings us to the 1970's, my childhood, and cutoff jean shorts.

Seriously. Isn't everything that is good and decent in the world epitomized in a pair of cutoff jeans? I am a little afraid that this once ubiquitous article of clothing has gone the way of the drive-in movie theatre and shoes with laces. But really, what cutoffs symbolize will forever be embedded in my soul and I for one intend to pass this legacy on to my children before it is too late.

Clothing was not as inexpensive in the 70's as it is now. There was no Target or Walmart or the like. There was the only mall...and Kmart. And boy howdy those of us forced to shop there were subject to great humiliation at the shopping for the clothes and even greater humiliation at the wearing of the clothes. Jeans so stiff and so reenforced at the knees as to render the wearer completely immobile for at least the first two weeks of school. After not a few washings and wearings the child could eventually produce movements something akin to that of a Stormtrooper. You may have guessed that I did not have clothes from the mall. Unless you count Sears. Mind you this is the 1975 Sears, not the Sears of today. I believe those jeans were actually made from recycled tires, but I am not sure.

Needless to say, by the time these jeans softened up it, it was the last week of school and they were high water, but only had holes in the first two layers of the knees!  Of course nowadays, we would head to the store to go "summer clothes shopping" for shorts and T's and new sandals. But this was not invented yet when I was a kid. Summer clothes shopping consisted of, you guessed it...mom taking a pair of scissors to the jeans! Free at last...free at last...

Knees were now uncovered, free to be scraped and bruised and dirtied. Shins were free to be tanned and skinned; scratched and mosquito bitten. Boys ran around bare chested and girls donned swimsuits, but every last one of us in cutoffs and bare feet. It was summer.


So there you have it...The letter M inasmuch as it pertains to cutoff shorts. Too much of a stretch, Teach? Check out this link for AlphabeThursday if you would like some more appropriate interpretations of the assignment!

Quote of the Day: "Deep Summer is when laziness finds respectability." 
--Sam Keen philosopher