Today’s guest post comes from Julia M.L. Whitehead, who has used writing as life’s therapy ever since she popped her first pimple and didn’t make cuts for the junior high cheer squad, when she joined Journalism instead! High school English from a poetry pusher helped sprout a hobby that still sees the occasional blossom. With college came a degree in Elementary Education and a love for children’s literature, which has broadened and deepened over ten years of raising four kids on weekly story time. Besides the local library, she enjoys light mountain biking, singing in the ward choir, and foot rubs from her husband. She thanks Segullah for the encouragement to keep her brain in writer’s mode.
The “glad game” was easy for Polyanna to play each time a missionary bin arrived. She’d rummage through the second hand items with Christmas like anticipation and always find something that suited her.
And so it has been with me, a pass along princess. I have specific memories of a certain family in the town where I was raised who would seasonally drop a sack full of seconds on the porch for my sisters and me to try. We’d separate by size and then model for my humble, grateful mother.
When the apron strings were snipped, I of course continued in these financially sensible wardrobing patterns. I remember the D.I. dress I wore for my first job interview and the worn- before windbreaker I donned for biking around during college.
Luckily I married into a family who believes in the consecration of cousins clothing. I know of many families who participate in bin passing practices similar to ours. From the moment our girls came along they have never been without a warm wardrobe.
I revel in my childrens’ Polyanna- like excitement upon receiving their “new” clothes. I’m glad that my own pass along princess identity has not waned with time or with comments from others who have not had opportunity to discover the advantages of “Reduce Re-use Recycle” as applied to outerwear.
I think that partially due to my openness about loving hand-me-downs (renamed pass-a longs by a sweet neighbor who wished to view the receiver on equal ground as the giver), a large variety have come to me from several sources, almost magnetically.
On multiple occasions, piles have included particular items that met a specific need of someone in our family. These were things I was literally about to buy: Shiny black church shoes size 12, Snow Pants 2T, straight black maternity skirt. I like to call these seemingly coincidental items “tithing blessings.”
For me the whole cycle has also been a lesson in letting the Lord provide. Matthew 6:28 tells us to “Consider the Lilies of the field…” and to “take no thought, saying…wherewithal shall we be clothed.?” He then promises that if we seek first the kingdom of God, all these things shall be added unto us.
I am not suggesting that all of my “would have been shopping” time over the years was spent at home in my scriptures. Nor am I suggesting that shopping to fulfill the basic need of being clothed is not a necessary task. I do, however believe that during years where going to the store with too many young’ns and not enough money was usually more than I could bear, He opened other avenues for our family.
Recently our cousins caught up to my daughter in size, resulting in less bin transferring. Now that not as many mounds of clothing are being presented to me on a platter, I can be spotted scouting at the racks of Kid to Kid and D.I. I have also found a new best friend…Kohl’s Clearance!
I admit that clothes shopping is actually one of the more thrilling temporal tasks. I may actually have to guard myself against accidental addiction.
But with its thrills come also the taking of time and effort that may have been spent getting ahead in other areas, hopefully concentrating on more lasting things. And when I’m standing in a massive returns line with a tuckered out toddler, my childhood lesson resounds ever more truthfully: hand- me downs sure are handy.
Are you a pass along princess or a shopping queen?
How have you benefited from others’ pass alongs?
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