Well, it finally happened.
After six years of wearing my absolute favorite shirt on the planet, I put it on for an afternoon workout, only to discover a giant hole right under the arm.
I don’t even know how it happened. I wore it last week. Was that hole there last week? I mean, I would have put it on groggy and in the dark at 5 am, but I think I would have noticed, or at least felt a breeze.
This shirt was there for me in my first fitness competition.
This shirt was there for me when I was learning how to do pull-ups.
This shirt came along strong for the Women’s March in Chicago.
I hung out with great people in this shirt.
This shirt helped me pay tribute to my dear departed niece.
The one bright spot in all of this is that the store I bought my t-shirt from still sells them, and I have already ordered a new one to replace it. Yes, my floor has dog hair dust bunnies on it. Yes, I’m overdue for a dental cleaning. Yes, it has been a horrifically long time since my last haircut. But this t-shirt is on its way.
Priorities, people.
Interested in learning more about the March Slice of Life Challenge, or wanting to read more great posts? Head over to the Two Writing Teachers site!
Soapbox: The Way I see Things 
It does sound like a special t-shirt! I can really tell by the fact that you have so many photos with you wearing the shirt. I love the end where you make clear how you’ve prioritized getting a new one. Definitely important!
You better believe it!
What a special shirt indeed! I’m so, so sorry for the hole discovery. There’s a classroom writing prompt in here somewhere – memories, stories, piece of clothing?
Anyway, I’m glad you were able to order another one. Great pictures!!
Oooh, I like that idea, of writing a poem to a piece of clothing that’s gone by the wayside. Or maybe, for the kids, it could be an object that they’ve outgrown or moved on past? The possibilities!
First: I. LOVE. THE. SHIRT. Second: I’d do the exact same thing – gotta be able to wear this proud bit of empowerment and daily inspiration, and to envelop oneself in tribute and memory. I get it. I so get it. Priorities, indeed. I am impressed by your workout regimen and moved by the words “sometime it helps to sweat in someone’s memory.” The shirt has served you well. You got a lot of life out of it – and here’s to living the next chapters in its successor! So glad the store still has them or this would have been an absolute lament.
Thank you! Yes, this is a POWER shirt. It makes me feel strong and confident. It’s also the shirt that goes along with one of my favorite podcasts (of the same name). The whole premise is that everyone is trying their best as parents, so we need to stop judging and uplift one another. I wish I had the podcast when my kids were young, as it’s so validating and affirming.
Stop judging and uplift each other – if people could do that, the world would be reborn!
Oh, if ONLY.
Seriously, Lanie – that tee ROCKS! And you in it! I have a fave tee I bought in London nearly twenty years ago. I don’t wear it often, because I wanted it to last. Still, 20 years is 20 years; it’s beginning to show its age. I think I may honestly go into mourning the day I can no longer wear it for it truly cannot be replaced. If it could, like you I’d stop, drop and roll, quick, fast and in a hurry to get another.
Oh, totally forgot to add, I have that same tee shirt! I almost wore last week on Zoom.
Wait. You also have a one bad mother t-shirt? I got mine because I listened to the podcast. Don’t tell me you do too…?
Nah, nothing that lofty. I was buying a silly tee for a friend and saw it. The word play made me giggle and had to get it. I know nothing of the podcast.
A moment of silence for a dearly departed tee. We do have our favorites and feel a sense of loss when they are no longer in wearable condition. On a bright note, that tee can become part of a tee shirt quilt.
Maybe it could! I do have a collection of t-shirts (mostly from races and fitness comps) that I could make a quilt of eventually, though I’d have to do a few more. It can go along with the quilt I had made of my husband’s hockey jerseys!