If you are like me, you probably have some nostalgia for certain clothing items. For whatever reason, you attach emotional significance to a jacket, pair of shoes, shorts, sweatshirt, hat, whatever. You don’t want to let go.
There’s an element of hoarding in all of us. You squirrel away your kids’ clothes in the hope that if grandchildren arrive you can hand over tiny sweaters and caps to be worn once or twice by that next generation.
Perhaps you save books, because you feel at some point in your life you’re going to reread them. You want to see if the plot and characters remain relevant 27 years later.
One item, for me, that I love is my Adidas winter jacket. The base color is black and it has those Adidas stripes (green) on the shoulders. It’s got a hood. The outside is your basic winterproof material and the inside is sweatshirt-lined. It’s warm, comfortable and serves its purpose.
It’s also a piece of my wardrobe that I want to keep indefinitely. I’m not completely sure why.
I purchased the jacket around the turn of the century, so it’s 25-or-more-years-old. Due to its age, I have a bit of desire to see how long I can hang onto it. It hasn’t fallen apart, so it should keep serving me.
Recently, I was faced with a dilemma. The zipper broke. What to do?
I discussed this with my wife, going over the pros and cons of getting rid of the jacket. It was old enough where in good conscious I could see purchasing a new winter jacket. But, at the same time, I was attached to it because I’d had it for so long and it truly was a perfect fitting piece of apparel. I also liked the colors, the stripes and that it came from a period of time when we lived in Columbus, NE. Not sure why that made any difference to me, but for some odd reason I attached good memories to that. That can be a big reason we don’t want to give things up.
After batting the broken zipper decision around with my wife, I came down on the side of getting the zipper replaced. Let’s do it.
She took it to our local cleaners, where they farm out those types of simple repairs. Two weeks later, I got the jacket back, and we were $100 poorer.
When I heard the cost, I was stunned. “We could have gotten a new jacket,” I said with extreme irritation. I had figured fixing the zipper would cost about 40 bucks. That I could deal with. The $100 price tag made me think deeply about the possession. What is it worth?
We keep or discard things in our lives after doing those mental machinations. Despite an inherent longing for an article of clothing, at some point in time you’re going to give it to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, or throw it in trash. It’s worn out, beat up, no longer fits, or you don’t care anymore.
Cleaning out our closets releases memories and cleanses the soul a bit. We retain emotional attachments for many items we wear, but sometimes you have to say goodbye. That’s the last zipper I’m going to buy for my winter Adidas jacket, you can bet on that.
There’s an element of hoarding in all of us. You squirrel away your kids’ clothes in the hope that if grandchildren arrive you can hand over tiny sweaters and caps to be worn once or twice by that next generation.
Perhaps you save books, because you feel at some point in your life you’re going to reread them. You want to see if the plot and characters remain relevant 27 years later.
One item, for me, that I love is my Adidas winter jacket. The base color is black and it has those Adidas stripes (green) on the shoulders. It’s got a hood. The outside is your basic winterproof material and the inside is sweatshirt-lined. It’s warm, comfortable and serves its purpose.
It’s also a piece of my wardrobe that I want to keep indefinitely. I’m not completely sure why.
I purchased the jacket around the turn of the century, so it’s 25-or-more-years-old. Due to its age, I have a bit of desire to see how long I can hang onto it. It hasn’t fallen apart, so it should keep serving me.
Recently, I was faced with a dilemma. The zipper broke. What to do?
I discussed this with my wife, going over the pros and cons of getting rid of the jacket. It was old enough where in good conscious I could see purchasing a new winter jacket. But, at the same time, I was attached to it because I’d had it for so long and it truly was a perfect fitting piece of apparel. I also liked the colors, the stripes and that it came from a period of time when we lived in Columbus, NE. Not sure why that made any difference to me, but for some odd reason I attached good memories to that. That can be a big reason we don’t want to give things up.
After batting the broken zipper decision around with my wife, I came down on the side of getting the zipper replaced. Let’s do it.
She took it to our local cleaners, where they farm out those types of simple repairs. Two weeks later, I got the jacket back, and we were $100 poorer.
When I heard the cost, I was stunned. “We could have gotten a new jacket,” I said with extreme irritation. I had figured fixing the zipper would cost about 40 bucks. That I could deal with. The $100 price tag made me think deeply about the possession. What is it worth?
We keep or discard things in our lives after doing those mental machinations. Despite an inherent longing for an article of clothing, at some point in time you’re going to give it to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, or throw it in trash. It’s worn out, beat up, no longer fits, or you don’t care anymore.
Cleaning out our closets releases memories and cleanses the soul a bit. We retain emotional attachments for many items we wear, but sometimes you have to say goodbye. That’s the last zipper I’m going to buy for my winter Adidas jacket, you can bet on that.
