New Suits
“Okay guys, it’s time to go,” Dad said to us, somberly. His challenges were plenty during those days – most would consider them insurmountable. This day’s required activity surely didn’t make his life any easier – spending money he didn’t have for an event he probably wished away, four hundred or ten thousand times every day.
We gathered with guarded excitement – kids can do that in these situations. Living poor put us in the position of viewing the simple task of trying on suits as an exciting endeavor. This would be the first time for all of us to have a suit. Of the eight brothers, five of us piled into Dad’s car in anticipation of the suit-buying process. It was a surreal time, even if we didn’t understand what surreal meant.