Living Out Loud. (v15). Prêt-à-porter.
Talk about an item of clothing that has special meaning for you.
I am a collector of memories. Pictures, letters, and dates of significant events, I keep them all. At one time I had over 20 t-shirts with special meaning ~ shirts I couldn’t just clear out at the end of the year because I hadn’t worn them once in the past 365 days. Among them was the 1985 Madonna concert, the Solomon’s Island sailboat race in 1991 (an overnight race up the Intracoastal Waterway) and the first fundraising shirt of the then non-existent ODU football team back in 1988. We won’t talk about the countless tees that were special simply because I’d “worn them when . . . ”
All the subsequent moves to LA and back and to LA eventually resulted in a hardening of the sentimental heart for saving every single moment of my life (though I have a chunk of the porch off my childhood home . . . but that’s another story). Light travel and space became the priority, and it always feels good to give something to charity when I am so blessed, anyway.
Somehow, one t-shirt has managed to hang in there ~ a vintage Tabasco tee, circa 1988, brought back by my parents from their first trip to New Orleans and Mardi Gras. Laissez les bons temps rouler on the front, Let the good time roll on the back. For some reason I cannot get rid of this shirt. I was actually offered $50 for it at the Cajun Festival in Town Point Park, Norfolk, good money for a college student, and I turned the guy down.
The pictures and letters I keep represent meaningful, pivotal times in my life. They hold the hearts and the memories of people I’ve loved, places I’ve been, like a journal, another record of a life hopefully well-lived, and definitely well-loved. I think I keep the shirt because when my stepdad came along, life took a turn for the better, and though of course, hindsight is always 20/20, this little piece of clothing sends a message for the present and the future as well. Enjoy life. Celebrate the miracle that it is, embrace all the people who love you, and go for your dreams.
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
My husband has an enormous t-shirt collection. He has t-shirt he wore so often in high school that they are tissue thin. He will only get rid of one if it has gaping holes in it and sometimes not even then. He doesn’t keep a journal. He’s not one for memorabilia. He just saves his shirts because when he picks up one, he can say, “I remember when . . . ” He stores his memories in his t-shirts.
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