I grew up in a family that had three girls. I was the middle girl, so I got the hand-me-downs from my older sister. As you can imagine, I was not thrilled with this. Like everyone else, I like to pick out my own wardrobe; but, this was not the time when many children were able to do this. We simply did not have marketing to children on television, or other media. Most of our clothes came from the local J.C. Penneys store, or from the Sears Catalog.
Anyway, one winter when I was probably 13 or 14, I inherited “the” coat. It was garish, I thought, hot pink plush with big round buttons. As I had outgrown my other coat, I had no choice but to wear it to school. I was mortified!
I vividly remember arriving at school in said coat. I walked head down to my locker with rubber boots sloshing the air. Were there snide looks and comments? Probably, that I do not remember; I just remember my cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
But, you see I survived that. The funny thing is that today if I found that coat in a vintage shop, or as new vintage style, I would think that it was kicky and cool. And, as it turned out, pink has become a favorite color of mine (especially hot pink!)–too funny.
I guess the moral is you never know how things will end up. Therefore, let’s make the best of what we have and count our blessings!
Joan Ellen Gage 
We all went through those kinds of things when we were kids and having survived them makes us stronger today because we learned that we could survive the worst we could imagine. Those events help us grow into the more confident people we are today.
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Joan,I relate to your experience about hand-me-down clothes growing up. I got my sister and counsin's clothes. Mama also made many of my clothes. I'm also love the cover pink. This is a great post.I saw your book in Phillips & Lloyd Bookshop. It's really nice and the publishing company did a great job printing it. I want to purchase a copy of your poetry book. Beautiful cover!
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Thank you Brenda Kay! I am honored that you liked it.
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Joan,I purchased your book, WATER RUNNING DOWNHILL, yesterday at Phillips & Lloyd Bookshop. I love your poetry. It's a great book and the company did a fantastic job printing and binding it. Congratulations upon a terrific poetry book!
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Thank you Brenda Kay. It is a first effort, and I really jumped in feet first. IUniverse is self-publishing. Everything is done via the internet. I barely scraped by. The next book should be a little more professional, and the quality of the photos will be better, I hope.
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