I used to hate labor Day weekend as a kid – because we always started school the Tuesday after Labor Day. I liked school, but liked summer vacation with my family and friends, in junior high, sleeping in till noon – at least when mom and Jerry both worked.
Back to school shopping was always good the week or two before Labor Day – new shoes, jeans and all the new notebooks, pencil holders, for a couple years we would buy book covers for each of our school books – a short lived fad.
Mom and I were shopping, probably 7th grade uptown Charleston on Capitol Street, and I saw the Adidas Kareem Abdul Jabbar – now a Basketball Hall of Fame member – white with those four black stripes and his “autograph” in gold on the side of those shoes. I had to have those shoes – the cost about $13.95 or so which was 30% higher than any other shoes. Mom got them for me but told me not to tell Jerry how much we spent on those shoes! I wore those shoes proudly to school and on the basketball court in Ordnance Park along Route 60.
High school shopping meant going with friends to the “Big City” of Charleston to the Charleston Department store to pick out all those cool blue jeans – yea – picking out my own couple pair of jeans from the biggest selection and coolest store in town. Going with friends and having lunch was a good time, especially when I drove to town the first couple times in that gold ’72 Monte Carlo with the black vinyl top! Cars of my life are in another story!