Earlier this week, I posted a comment about favorite t-shirts to my professional FB page. You know the ones; comfortable, worn, faded, perhaps a few holes and tatters. The t-shirt your loved one has tried to remove from existence but you have managed to save just in the nick of time from being thrown out, donated or even burned! No one wants to see you in them out in public so wearing them comes at great social peril yet you persist because you LOVE this T-SHIRT!
So what is so special about this article of clothing that you would risk life and limb to protect it? Willing to face scorn and derision at every turn because others just don’t understand. They don’t get it or they do and still think you are being a sentimental fool. To all those people I say, let us live!
Our t-shirts mean you no harm and if they bring us back to a time that was good, that we fondly remember, then that is a good thing. Not that one should live in the past but to reminisce on times and events in our lives also brings happiness. It shows us that even if we are struggling now, we were joyful at one point and can be that way again.
For me, my two favorite t-shirts are from my senior week in college and my beach volleyball league. It represents a time in my life when I was deeply connected to those around me and enjoyed what I was doing (even if many of the memories I can’t completely remember due to alcoholic haze or just plain age). As Maya Angelou once said, you may forget the details but you will always remember how someone or something made you feel. That is the truth of it. Your feelings are your guide and anything that helps you access that part of your authentic self is something to be cherished.
