WARNING: maudlin sentimentality here.
I have a soft, light blue DKNY JEANS boyfriend style, cotton button down oxford shirt, slim cut, tunic length (great with leggings), that I bought in the early 90's. I have had it for 20+ years and I just can't bear to throw it out even though it is faded, threadbare and ripped in back where I sit on it. This spring, when the fabric got so thin that it finally ripped, it got delegated to do gardening and landscaping work in. The fabric has gotten so paper-thin that it's extremely lightweight and it has long sleeves that I can roll down for sun protection and to keep from getting scratched pruning shrubbery. It is too worn out looking to even walk the dog in.
This shirt has accommodated two decades of my weight gains and losses, been used as a beach cover-up, worn to bed as a nightshirt, and gone to all my kids sporting events. I cooked and cleaned in it. It washed and dried like a dream, and never held a stain. I wore it year round.
Here is the biggest and best miracle it performed:
It has real mother of pearl shell buttons AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF ITS ORIGINAL BUTTONS ARE STILL HOLDING FAST AND TIGHT! (even the extra spare replacement buttons sown into the bottom inside seam are still there). I have never had to sew back on ANY of the buttons.
Last night I laundered this shirt, felt my love and appreciation, and this Mary Chapin Carpenter song, which I can't remember how long it's been since I last heard it, came to mind:
THIS SHIRT
This shirt is old and faded
All the color's washed away
I've had it now for more damn years
Than I can count anyway
I wear it beneath my jacket
With the collar turned up high
So old I should replace it
But I'm not about to try
This shirt's got silver buttons
And a place upon the sleeve
Where I used to set my heart up
Right there anyone could see
This shirt is the one I wore to every boring high school dance
Where the boys ignored the girls
And we all pretended to like the band
This shirt was a pillow for my head
On a train through Italy
This shirt was a blanket beneath the love
We made in Argeles
This shirt was lost for three whole days
In a town near Buffalo
'Till I found the locker key
In a downtown Trailways bus depot
This shirt was the one I lent you
And when you gave it back
There was a rip inside the sleeve
Where you rolled your cigarettes
It was the place I put my heart
Now look at where you put a tear
I forgave your thoughtlessness
But not the boy who put it there
This shirt was the place your cat
Decided to give birth to five
And we stayed up all night watching
And we wept when the last one died
This shirt is just an old faded piece of cotton
Shining like the memories
Inside those silver buttons
This shirt is a grand old relic
With a grand old history
I wear it now for Sunday chores
Cleaning house and raking leaves
I wear it beneath my jacket
With the collar turned up high
So old I should replace it
But I'm not about to try
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbL1LptZ8Vc
Anyone who has read this far, thanks for indulging me. It must be my peri-menopause.
Anybody else have a similar article of clothing that they'd care to write about?
