Back to school

When I was in middle and high school, my siblings and I would usually take one special trip to the mall to get back-to-school clothes. My budget was small--$100, and that would be for the whole year--so I chose my items very carefully.

Afterward, back at home, I would take days to decide on the outfit to wear on the first day of school. I would consider and reconsider, laying the outfit out on my bed. When the day finally came, it would be hard to sleep the night before, and I would wake with fluttering butterflies in my stomach. First days of school were all about this year being different...reinvention...and all the wishes and longings that I had (innumerable as a child) would come true.

I remember those clothes vividly. One year, my first day outfit even had a name. It was the "purple pantsuit." Purple polo shirt over purple cords.

I'd like to retain now that same attachment and care for my things as I had then, but without the sense of paucity.