The Overalls

I was living with my dad.  I had gone to the army navy store but I don't remember with who now.  I found a pair of overalls.  They were fairly typical blue jean overalls with the big pockets and the bib.  The straps were blue and white stripes and might have said the name of the company on them.  At any rate I was thrilled.

Dad didn't like them.  There was something in his face that said, "don't mess with this one."  So I didn't.  We agreed that I would wear the overalls when he wasn't home to see them.  This was something that he could live with.  So that is what I did.  I wore them only when Dad wasn't around.

Years later, Dad told me with pride in his voice that he had never owned a pair of jeans.  To him, jeans and overalls reminded him of the Depression.  That association was one that he never broke.

I don't know much about what Dad had to live through during the depression.  I know that the family had chickens [in the small village that they lived in!] and when things got really really bad, the whole family moved to a truck farm.  The chickens and what they grew on the truck farm kept my dad and all of his brothers and sisters from starving.  After the worst was over, the family moved back into the village.

Dad's oldest brother had to quit school to help out with the family grounds-keeping business.  In return for doing that, he was given a car by his dad [my grandfather].  A few years later, he went into the military.  All of the boys followed him when it was their turn.  Two of Dad's brothers became landscapers after their stints in the military were over with.

There are no pictures that I know about still in existence today.  I've got Dad's high school graduation picture.  

sapphoq on life