Growing up I got attached to things. Favorite purse. Favorite outfit. When I was about 7, my uniform was a striped shirt, white boots, dress and hair in pigtails. As I got older, my taste became more refined. Ha ..I moved into the 80’s with leggings and over sized shirts. The neons–electric blues, greens and oranges. My favorite was a large orange shirt with a dark haired girl wind blown peeking out from underneath sunglasses..

Does anyone remember that song “boys of summer” from Don Henley.

Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summers out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone
I’m drivin by your house
Though I know you’re not at home…
After the boys of summer have gone

This shirt reminded me of that song. My best friend Dena and I would drive her white mustang to seven eleven with that song blaring, drinking our big gulps that were 74 oz.. and lather up the oil to burn our skins to a crisp.

So me and my orange shirt.

I wore the shirt everywhere. To the mall, to school and to bed.  That poor shirt ended up faded with holes in it and what my mom called a “shmata.” Yiddish for piece of junk clothing.  Definition here.. at Urban Dictionary At the time, I wasn’t sure what my mom was implying..I knew she wanted me to throw it out. And I wasn’t going to part with it. I was too attached. It was my teenage  security blanket.  I wore my orange shirt until it literally fell apart.

Did you ever have a favorite piece of clothing you wore out?

Kim Gellman is the owner of Artisticsensations.com, a fun and hip website that sells kids furniture, bedding, and room decor from baby to college age kids.

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