September is coming so it’s “back to school time.”  It’s time to go shopping to buy new clothes, new shoes and school supplies.  As a growing young boy and with brothers; this was not a solo trip because we had to get measured from head to toe for clothes and shoes!  A tradition,  I suppose in many a family, however there were issues.  So be sure to put on clean underwear and socks and come with me.  

     A fresh haircut was first.  The barber was located in Leslie’s Department Store on Armitage Avenue between Drake and St. Louis up on the second floor.  We always had to wait our turn.  I dreaded this trip; I was very frightened by the whole experience each time beginning with the booster seat the barber used to make his reach easier and not to mention I had to sit still (and remain quiet).  Funny because later I couldn’t get a barber that I went to…to shut up!  And what was that smelly stuff he’d put on my hair? 

     While still in Leslie’s we needed Levi’s.  Any other brand of jeans was completely unacceptable and out of the question.  Our waist would be measured, but we would still have to try them on (thus the clean underwear).    The length of the jeans was preset and usually way to long (because they would shrink).  I still can’t figure out how the length got shorter and the waist remained the same.  I would have to fold up the pants and make a cuff until they shrunk to the correct length which usually was still too long eventually causing fraying and wear holes.  By the time November came they were perfect I think it had something to do with the fact that Mom would wash them and hang the Levi’s outside in the freezing cold so that when you brought them inside they were frozen and stiff as a board.  We would walk to school like a stiff robot.

     Next stop was the shoe department.  Of course our feet had grown too, so we had to get our feet measured (don’t forget to put on clean socks was the mantra just before going out of the house).  In the shoe department they had a fluoroscope that would “x-ray” your feet so Mom could see just where the toes reached inside the shoe.  Mom made sure that our toes had room in the shoe to grow; so the shoes always felt too big.  We would walk back and forth and give our opinion which didn’t seem to matter.  We had no choice of the style and the current day athletic shoes or as we called them “gym shoes” were only for gym class.  If we wore them at any other time we were risking getting flat feet! 

     One year my Grandma had given me a pair of cowboy boots for my birthday.  I think it was my sixth.  I wore them everyday.  I polished and shined them.  I loved those boots and I loved Grandma for giving them to me.  How long does a pair of cowboy boots last on a six year old who wears them everyday?  I’m not sure, but I think it’s close to ten months.  Yes, the heals which were originally about one and a half inches and had worn down to nothing.  It was like wearing boots with no heal at all.  

     It was just after summer vacation and we hadn’t made our annual trip to Leslie’s Department Store yet, but school had already started and I was wearing my cowboy boots every day.  Of course, they looked like hell by now especially with no heels.  One Saturday morning while getting dressed; I couldn’t find my boots.  I looked everywhere, but couldn’t find them.  My boots, my cowboy boots, my beautiful cowboy boots had just disappeared.  Mom said she didn’t know what happened to them; nor did anyone else.  I was shoeless. 

     So risking getting flat feet I put on my gym shoes.  Guess where we went that Saturday.  That’s right.  To Leslie’s.  

     …It was years later when I finally remembered to ask Mom about the disappearance of the cowboy boots again and she told me that my teacher had suggested we trash them which she did.  [Why is it no one tells you this until years later?]

     My shoe saga isn’t over yet.  The next new pair of shoes were okay and Mom was on a tight budget because…” we had to save money to buy a new house.”  Times were frugal.  Buying new shoes was out of the question for a long time so these had to last.     When the heals wore down I had to take them to the shoemaker for replacement, and when the soles got a hole in them;  so that when I stepped in a puddle of water my  foot would get wet; I had to take them to the shoemaker.  (Why couldn’t Mom think of this when I had my beloved cowboy boots?) 

    Now the heels would be nailed on so there was basically no problem with them, however, the soles got glued, not nailed, not sewn.  Glued.  This gluing would last a short while, but eventually the sole would loosen and flip/flop when I walked.  This is VERY EMBARESSING!     

     I must have gone to school for a week before Mom had money so I could get them glued.  Mom would make me wear them, but I would change them in school to my gym shoes.  It’s a wonder I don’t have flat feet.  Thank God for rubber bands!  

     Shopping for school supplies was different.  Mom would give us money and we would go to the dime store on North Avenue and Kedzie.  The wooden floor would creek and my feet would sound loud as I shopped. 

    Number two pencils were always needed.  A leopard black and white notebook.  A pencil sharpener.  A box of crayons; these had to be Crayola crayons any other kind stunk.  We would get a box of 16 crayons in bad times and 64 in good times.  I usually got 16.  I only recall one time having a box of 64 crayons (including silver).  All of my friends would borrow the special color crayons.  Getting a box of 64 crayons got you more friends. 

     In fourth grade in addition to the usual supplies I was to bring a shirt card for math class to list all of the times tables.  I can even name her, Mrs. Sullivan!  The only thing was I didn’t have a shirt card and my family never got any.  You see you get these either when you buy a new dress shirt or get them cleaned and starched at a fancy laundry.  Dad didn’t wear dress shirts.   I made excuse after excuse why I had not brought in my times table shirt card completed.  The teacher never offered to supply a shirt card and I was scared to ask.  I never did well at multiplication after that.  How much is 7 x 9?  72 right?  Get me the calculator!

School days, school days, good old golden rule days….Back in the day.