Wednesday, July 13, 2011

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

15 comments:

  1. I'm not from the 70's but my mom always tells me cool things from it :) She loved the clothes of the 70's. She wont get rid of them because they are coming back in style she says!!

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  2. Ahhh, cut offs! Those were the best summers ever.

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  3. You forgot TAR on the bottom of our feet. At least those of us who were barefoot in Chicago in the summer had those. :)

    Great memories. Thanks

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  4. And the smell of rotting tomatoes in the streets, and swarms of crickets in the evening... or is that just a N California thing?

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  5. I too am from the 70's and I laughed so hard at this post!!!! loved it. still smiling because it smacks of truth! seriously!!! I was line drying some of my kids cutoffs the other day and i found myself smiling, now I know why. When i took the scissors to their jeans I felt a bit guilty but seeing them run around in cutoffs is so refreshing! and btw tears... college?? how fast is time going!

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  6. So glad to see there are still moms who appreciate dirt on the bottoms of their kids feet... even if they aren't kids anymore. I still walk around in bare feet... Don't recall ever wearing cut-offs though, but I was a 50s-60s kid in Europe... :-D

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  7. Bare feet and cut-offs! Those were good days! I just made myself a pair of cut-offs a couple of weeks ago.

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  8. I STILL have cricket nightmares...but rotting tomatoes bring back memories

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  9. Fun walk down memory lane! I think your M post is great!

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  10. i love this and totally remember this time as well (more early 80's for me, hehe) - hmm, now i'm thinking i might need to bring back the homemade cutoffs...

    ps and jeans now have STRETCH in them, could you imagine if they did back then? :)

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  11. What a marvelous post.

    I loved dirty summer feet, too. My kids would play outside for hours...from sun up to sun down. Living in a big city in Arizona that is just not possible. I wish our Grandlittles could experience it, though.

    I loved my cut offs. I had my favorites that were as soft as velvet. Woe to the sister who tried to 'borrow' them.

    This was such a fun link. I really, really enjoyed my visit here today.

    Thanks for linking.

    A+

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  12. Oh boy - so you know the pain of the jeans wrinkling behind the knee after a long stretch of kneeling or sitted cross-legged? I know it well. Aaarg!

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  13. Show me a person that doesn't love a good pair of cutoffs and I will show you a person that hasn't learned how to live. This post just had me smiling from beginning to end. Thanks lady!

    My best, Lynn

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  14. Hi there Naturegirl! I am just hopping over to let you know that I took your idea to hear about guest posting on my Whole Food Kids blog. I linked to you in my post today to give you the credit. Thanks so much for the great idea. I'll look forward to getting some recipes from you!

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  15. Hey, Nature Girl... it's been a while since you appeared on my dashboard. I miss you. I hope all is well!

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