T-Shirt Purge

I love t-shirts. Every once in awhile, my wife lets me know my t-shirts are “possibly” getting out of hand. I always fight this. My t-shirts “mean” something to me. Most of them, anyway.

They remind me of special events in my life—things I have done and places I have been : : : the U2 Elevation shirt and Vertigo shirt (yeah, both tours), the Paul McCartney shirt, the shirt I bought in Belgium, the Crosby Stills and Nash shirt, Fountains of Wayne, the Late Show shirt, the shirt I got in Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, you get the picture : : :

Some have been given to me as thank you's : : : the one with my caricature on it, various pithy grabber shirts, some very cool rock shirts : : :

Some just remind me of times that were special.

I never thought of myself as a “collector” : : : it just happens.

A few months ago I purged the closet. And a few months before that. And so on. This weekend I did it again. I attacked the closet and tossed a few shirts that were expendable. 35 to be exact.

Most of them were too large since I lost 30 pounds this past year : : : that made it a lot easier. But it was still tough to toss some of them. (some were XL and I now wear a M)

Tomorrow, the Hefty bag will be taken to Goodwill. I wonder who is going to buy my XL “Cut Your Mullet” shirt. (I got a lot of strange looks wearing that one once upon a time. Especially when NASCAR came to town and I was floating in a sea of mullets. Sidenote: the She-Mullet : : : what is the deal with that?)

Some shirts have been passed on to my son. They are just too cool. I just washed the” Stryper Yellow and Black Attack” shirt the other day. Full of holes. Faded. 23 years old.

You can tell a lot about a person by their t-shirts. T-shirts are like a person’s bookshelf.

Over the years, as I toss out t-shirts, I see changes along my journey. It doesn’t seem like too many years ago that I tossed the collared golf shirts with the embroidered logos that remind me of a time when I thought I needed to “fit in” with the community I lived in (that didn’t last long). No offense to you if you wear them . . . they just aren’t me. Those shirts remind me of a Dave Barry quote, “Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing.”

My t-shirts have changed with my music interests as well. Though I still enjoy an occasional Scorpions listen, I don’t own the T anymore. Frank Zappa once said, “No change in musical style will survive unless it is accompanied by a change in clothing style. Rock is to dress up to.” True.

Just going down memory lane and thanking God for t-shirts : : : the ones I’ve thrown away, the ones I’m embarrassed by, the ones I’m keeping, and the ones I will be buying soon.

Until the next purge.

P.S. What is your favorite t-shirt?