Pockets Filled With Treasures...!

You know, looking back on my childhood (which ended way too soon) one of the things I remember about the men I spent the most time around was the clothes they wore!

I don't ever remember thinking about it back then, and only in recent years does it even come to mind!

Most of my relatives were hard working country folk...and dressed accordingly. Most wore either khaki pants or jeans. Some wore denim bib overalls, especially the ones that farmed or ranched for a living.

Sometimes the clothes they wore were the uniform pants and shirts from what ever job they had at the time, usually with a name tag over the shirt pocket, just in case they ever forgot who they were!

Back then, permanent press wasn't even around, so nearly all the clothes smelled like sunshine and country breezes. That came from being dried on the clothes line in the yard! There's a certain smell clothes dried on the line have that's hard to explain unless you have experienced it first hand. It's a smell that I can still remember to this day!

No matter what the clothes were made of, the main thing I remember most about all of them was the many treasures that lay hidden in those pockets! I'll bet a lot of you know exactly what I'm talking about!

Walk up to any grown cousin, uncle, grandpa, or dad...ask for a piece of string or wire or a scrape of cloth or paper and someone would almost without fail have it!

Not to mention the ever-present hankie and the best treasure of all...the pocket knife! Now, the pocket knife was NOT for loaning out! It was usually worn almost smooth on the handle, and usually so sharp you could shave the hair on your arms with it. The blade was usually very much thinner than when it was new, due to the fact that it had been sharpened so many times! No dull knives in those pockets! The pocket knife was a tool, and as most tools, was cared for with much attention!

It might be just a pen knife, a single blade, a double blade, or even the occasional Swiss knife...but they were all used a lot and treated with respect!

Those wonderful knives could make toys, help in car or tractor repairs, remove splinters, gut fish, plug a water melon, deftly slice any fruit and even peel an entire apple with the peeling hanging all in one piece!

Oh, and let's not forget the other necessity! The pocket watch! Even though many of the men wore wrist watches, many, if not most relied on a good ol' pocket watch to keep the most accurate time for them. It was like the watch you took to church, or to the bank if you had business there!

The pocket watch was such an important part of a man's treasures, it had a special pocket all it's own in a lot of clothing!

Yeah, those marvelous pockets were just loaded with treasures! Might not be the same for everyone, but you can bet that the grown men of the country kind always had some version of these treasure handy. It was like they could almost anticipate what the kids might ask for or need...and have the talent to carry nearly all of those needs in their very special pockets!

Now, my friends, let's get some fresh coffee and sit outside for a bit! We can discuss what treasures you have in your pockets!