The Coat

I know why my children love thrift stores. The girls have heard the story before but I'm not sure the boys know it. It has only been recent that they have showed that instinct toward second hand clothing.
It was mid October 1986. I had just bought groceries at the Winn Dixie which at that time was on Second avenue next to the Burger King.The forecast was changing from the mild temperatures we usually have that time of year to the first possible frost and cold snap. I felt it in the air. It was already windy and felt like the thermostat had dropped while I was in the store. I was feeling sorry for myself because I only had a few dollars left after buying food for the week. I looked at my angels in the backseat. I pulled the car to the edge of the parking lot and put it in park. I prayed, "Lord, it's getting cold and Hannah doesn't have a coat, help me to find her one." As I looked up I saw a sign in the window of the house on the corner across the street. It was a children's consignment store. I had not ever been in one and was curious to see what they had. We tumbled in the door of the little shop to find a nice lady working on some papers at the counter, she smiled at the girls and asked if she could help me find something...I didn't know what they had really so I just told her I'd like to look. We thumbed through the little girl's clothes for a minute or two, the girls playing at my feet, that's when I saw it. A little purple coat on a mannequin above the children's clothes. It was as if someone put it there for me to find...but I didn't know if I had enough money, I checked the tag. It was $4. I almost cried. I grabbed the coat and tried it on Hannah. It fit perfectly. She loved it because it was purple, I loved it because it was a very good coat, like new, for only four dollars. I thanked God, purchased the coat and left the store. I had a warm spot in my heart for consignment stores from that day on. I started checking with those stores whenever the girls grew out of their things. I started donating clothing we didn't need anymore to Salvation Army and Goodwill. The girls started looking at thrift store shopping as a game. One year before they started back to school Hannah took twenty-five dollars and bought her school wardrobe at a Salvation Army, later that year one of her friend's mothers told me that her daughter wanted to dress like Hannah but they couldn't find the sort of things she wore at any stores locally. I had to laugh, I asked her if she was serious. She didn't understand my amusement. I told her where Hannah shopped and she couldn't believe it. Micah soon started the bargain shopping too. They've described it as going hunting as opposed to shopping for outfits that everyone else has. It is so much fun for us to explore a new city...one of the first things someone will ask is "Do they have any good thrift stores?" They all seem to feel that clothes aren't any good until someone else breaks them in for you.
Another concept that my children love is... give with a cheerful heart and it comes back to you. It never failed when they were little, I'd clean out drawers or their closets and give away clothes and usually within two days a bag or two of hand-me-downs would turn up on our doorstep. This was always so much fun for them. They started thinking the best shopping was going through a bag someone had left for them. We would take what we liked and donate anything we couldn't use.
I am not opposed to buying new clothes now and then but the best things I have are most likely from a second-hand store. Even my boys have discovered the fun of hunting for cool t-shirts and old plaid pants in thrift stores...in fact, the other day Micah took our youngest son shopping for school clothes. After looking in several stores at Tiger Town he finally told her he had to get out of that place....he quipped "These clothes are all too new!" Gotta love that.