My Happy Travel Shirt

Before setting out for my year long trip to Europe in 1999 i needed a shirt.  I didn't want to take one of my favorite shirts, because i knew i would destroy it wearing it every day for a year.  But i wanted to have a shirt i liked, a shirt that was comfortable.  Since i would only have one long sleeve shirt, it needed to be very flexible. One that was casual and yet could pass for kind of a little dressed up if needed.and good in different temperatures.

I figured i was looking for nice a rubgy shirt.

I love the used clothing store, but i do dread shopping for used clothes.  It's even more time consuming and frustrating that shopping for new clothes because you usually have to search long racks of clothing and try on dozens of items to find one or two that are going to work.  Don't get me wrong, i'm thrilled to have these great used clothing stores near by and i get almost all of my clothing from them; it's just that it can be tiring and frustrating as a shopping session stretches into infinity.  I try to hang in there as it seems like it will never end, although it's only an hour and a half or so.

So on Yellow Pig Day, (July 17th), 1999 (which  from 1984 to 2002 was consistently my lucky day!) i headed up to the then recently opened Value Village in the old REI flagship store location, determined to hang in there as long as it took, and find a shirt that was going to work.

I walked in, went up the stairs, and walked along the racks for my size.  Without really breaking pace i pulled 5 or 6 shirts that looked like they would work and took them to the mirror.   I tried them on quickly, two were decent, one i liked a lot, a green and blue striped shirt.  I tried it again, it felt right, i walked downstairs and bought it.  Less than 5 minutes, and SCORE!

This was a GREAT shirt while i was traveling.  I wore it every day.  I wore it to dinner parties and working on the farm, on trains, in churches, hiking and even, once or twice, to bed.  It was comfortable, durable, flexible, kept me warm and looked good on me.

Of course the trip was amazing. It turned into 14 months and is filled with many of my happiest memories.  I still have that shirt.  It's pretty tattered around the edges and looks heavily worn, but when i'm feeling a little down, i put it on and i have a good day.