During the holidays this past year, we spent a lot of time visiting friends locally, just hanging out with people we hadn’t spent enough time with during the year. On one such visit, I got a fantastic belly laugh, and an even better life lesson.
We went to see friends in their new home, and when we arrived, the husband, a very high-powered executive, opened the front door wearing a Black Sabbath concert T-shirt. I started cracking up and said, “What are you wearing?”
He smiled and said, “Best concert I ever went to.” He then went on to explain that in the course of moving, he came across his souvenir T-shirts, from all periods in his life – concerts, college, movie premieres, etc., and realized that he had moved them from house to house over the years, always leaving them in the same box, and for what? So his kids could throw them out after he died?
So, he decided that whenever the occasion called for a T-shirt (like a warm afternoon cooking out with friends), he would wear one of the T-shirts that meant something to him. And when they wore out, he’d thrown them away, rather than leaving it up to his loved ones.
It occurred to me to write this after I got dressed this morning in my “Hampstead International Football Cup” shirt that I got in Jamaica in 1992. Prior to December, it had spent 20 years in a box, and what precious souvenir deserves that? Plus, I love wearing it. It reminds me of an awesome trip, a sport I love, and that it still fits 20 years later. Woo-hoo!
Wear the T-shirts you love. What else are you saving them for?
This applies to clothing in general, I think. I can’t tell you how many times I have refrained from wearing a particular top, or pair of shoes, or jacket, because I didn’t want to wear it out. No more!
Karen, I totally agree! I have a pair of boots that I love that have spent most of their life in a box. Now — whenever they might look good, they are on my feet. And when they wear out, it will make room for another pair that I will love even more.
Hey, Val. PERFECT timing to read this since I’m in a “purge” zone–umm, WHEN am I transferring those DANG VHS tapes to digital!?!? =) I remember someone saying years ago that if you have collections of “anything” they better be out and displayed so that you can ENJOY them, since there’s no point in “enjoying” them in a box; or get rid of them. =) Happy sunny day to you!