"Repurpose Story, One Foot Forward, One Foot Back"

How my repurpose story had one foot forward

Living in this modern day and time it is hard for some to visualize not having a local department store, mall or even discount store. What is even more unrealistic is not having the money to frequent those establishments.

However that may be, when I was raising my children the local market was several miles away, even if we had a local market the budget was not so we could make an unlimited amount of purchases.

In my family we repurposed frequently, not because it was popular, but because it was a necessary way of life. So… what was winter clothing was often cut short to make summer clothing.

MY REPURPOSE STORY

The children always wore pajamas with feet, so my alterations were progressive. In the springtime the feet were first to go and as the year progressed, into hot summer evenings, the legs were cut to make short pants.

Having said that on one particular warm spring evening I decided to cut the children’s long pjamas short, seeing how air conditioning was not available and those first spring days could be quite warm. So off with the feet!

After the children’s nighttime bath I began to dress them for bed. Not realizing my oldest son had grown quite attached to the feet in his pajamas. What happened next was short of be being accused of murdering his pajamas.

He cried for hours, I realized I needed to save the feet on those pajamas so I performed surgery and sewed them back on.

Feeling quite excited the desecrated pair of pajamas was back together; we could all go to bed resting assured my son would not have an emotional injury due to his mother repurposing his favorite pair of pj’s.

As I held them up for him to slide into, I realized I had sewn one foot forward and one backward.

Needless to say the tone had turned to laughter and my son had a decision to make. We could reattach the backwards foot in the right direction or leave it off and gradually let my son get used to wearing pajamas without feet. We chose the latter and by morning he was ready for the other foot to be cut off.

I don’t know if there is a moral to this story, but I can tell you this, I learned to not assume my children’s property was mine. I always from that day forward asked and there was never an objection.

JoAnn B.

If you have a repurpose story now is the time to tell for posterity.