“Born to Shop”

I wore the same shirt from the age of ten to fourteen. That is four years. It was a white boxy t-shirt with a disheveled rabbit on the front of it. The rabbit was carrying a number of shopping bags and it read underneath the image ‘Born to Shop’.   The cheap cotton of the shirt had shrunk in the wash until it ceased to look of cotton and took on the appearance of a white malleable armor of some sort. The actual  image of the shopaholic rabbit refused to shrivel in the dryer with the rest of the shirt and soon the rabbit became little more than some colorless flakes of paint that scratched my arms when my skin ran across it.

I hated this shirt. Then why did I wear it for four years, you ask? Well you see, I grew up poor. I grew up wearing over sized clothes, under sized clothes, things with holes and things with patches. Wearing something brand new was a rare and unusual treat for our family. That is why when I was twelve my parents were elated that a small local store went out of business. It was called the Yellow Front. The sort of odds and ends store that carries Lee press on nails, diapers guaranteed to leak, Cheesy Puffs (think Cheetos but nasty), bath towels the size of wash clothes, hand towels that will never absorb anything, ever, and wash clothes that are made from wood shavings and sand. In other words, Yellow Front was where the people that did not feel like getting dressed up to go to Walmart go. Anyways, before it closed its duck tape dappled front doors forever, it had a major sale.

My Daddy waited and watched as the Yellow Front posted it’s sales. He wasn’t satisfied with 50% off or 60% off. He was like a wild cat waiting in ambush. He came home at night perusing Yellow Front adds over dinner and reminding my Mom to be ready for when the sale really dropped. I thought the bright yellow sign posted in the store window announcing the 75% off would push him to pounce but in a stellar display of miserly patience he continued to wait. Finally one sunny day, Daddy came home and announced with great drama, that indeed the time had come for us to go shopping! Yellow Front was now selling everything left in the store for a historical 90% off!

Our family of four all jumped into the truck and immediately drove over to the worn out store. For two hours we dug through piles of random things. These were the items that had been examined, reexamined and discarded by other people who were looking for actual quality items. Where others had explored and found no treasure, my parents filled up two carts. Buried deep within one of the carts, there they were. The thick stack of rabbit shirts were there inside the cart just to the right of seven bottles of watery dish soap, to the left of twelve slabs of processed cheese (no need to refrigerate) and beneath five pot holders too thin to protect your hands from burning. At just 50 cents each, my parents had bought all the t-shirts that were available in any size from XS to XL. My Daddy was glowing! We unloaded one stuffed bag after another into the trailer we lived in. Somewhere during the unpacking Daddy announced happily that we would not have to worry about shirts and socks for years! And he was right.

I was fourteen years old when I threw away the last ‘Born to Shop’ rabbit t-shirt. I had worn it in three sizes in sets of six for four years. I look back and smile. My Daddy was good at being poor. He loved any adventure, even if it was just trying to survive on little or nothing. I am not sorry that I grew up poor. It taught me a lot. Although I wonder sometimes if I would be better off feeling a little less comfortable being poor. After all, I probably will never be wealthy always being content with very little. Then again, money never made anyone rich anyways.

Thanks to the man who taught me how to live poor and happy, here is my top ten list of why being poor will make you a better person:

1.  You will learn what you really need and stop being afraid of losing all that stuff the world says is important.
2. You will not be able to afford taking the family out to man made destinations and instead will spend time at home together or in nature.
3. When your washing machine breaks you remember how to wash clothes in a bath tub.
4. You know hot water is a luxury and every time you step into a steamy shower you feel like it’s a spa day.
5. You are less likely to have weight problems because you do not take food for granted.
6. You learn how to sew.
7. You learn how to feed a family of four from two potatoes, a carrot, some bologna and pine needles.
8. You can’t afford the noise the world sells and learn to sit quietly with your own thoughts.
9. You will become an inventor.
10. You will be grateful to wear humble clothes remembering it could always be worse; you could be wearing a shirt decorated with a rabbit who was born to shop on it!