Been There, Done That, Got the T-Shirt
I am doing it. The ultimate sacrifice. In the name of a lighter load, I am purging my t-shirt collection. Now, to be fair, I believe I have done this a few times before, as many of my t-shirts seem to have disappeared, but it is never easy.
Have you ever thought about the story of your life as it is told through fashion? Well, obviously we all go through trends and stages of fashion in our life. But, since I avoid the camera and haven't really kept up with fashion trends (or really shopped for myself) for a long time, I can't share that story here. I can, however, share part of my story as it is told through t-shirts. So join me through a trip down memory lane.Perhaps the oldest t-shirt in my collection is this beauty from Fitzwilly's in Northampton, MA, one of my favorite restaurants from my undergraduate college days at Smith.
[caption id="attachment_3619" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Bought at Fitzwilly's ca. 1990"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3618" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="If I Tell You What It Means Will You Buy Me A Drink (Back of Fitzwilly's t-shirt)"]
[/caption]Next we skip a few years (I don't know what happened to t-shirts from Japan) and head to Hawaii, for adventures galore.
[caption id="attachment_3620" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I got this at Sea Life Park in Hawaii the week after I graduated with my MFA from the University of Hawaii. For complicated reasons this t-shirt meant more than my diploma at the time."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3621" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="I love this t-shirt given to me when my dear friend Nancy visited me in Hawaii from Japan. I hope she visits me in Mass., or better yet, I get to visit her in Japan someday."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3622" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="We bought this on Maui, when Nathan finally admitted that he didn't really want to see anyone else. (For more on that story see the post called "Stumbling into Romance""]
[/caption]From Hawaii, we skip another few years to my doctoral program. Nathan and I got married in Hawaii, while I was in the middle of a doctoral program at Arizona State University. 7 months later, he moved to Vermont for work and I stayed in Arizona to finish up my dissertation. I did research at three different professional companies for Young Audiences: Childsplay in Tempe, AZ; Dallas Children's Theater; and my favorite Metro Theatre Company in St. Louis, MO (a company I learned about during the year before I started at ASU when we lived nearby.
[caption id="attachment_3626" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="I think we bought this t-shirt when we were in Hawaii to get married. It is dyed with chocolate (Yum) and smelled like chocolate for a while."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3623" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I spent a wonderful week or so at Metro, observing, interviewing and helping during their summer education program called Arts Intersection."]
[/caption]Move forward again, to our time in Vermont. We both taught. I directed, and I started a children's theater company which didn't survive much past my time there, as we had to move on.
[caption id="attachment_3624" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Short lived, but well loved."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3625" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption=""Life is Good" when you live near enough to the Ben & Jerry factory for a tour."]
[/caption]For some reason I don't have any t-shirts from the next stop on our living tour, Durango, CO. I guess I never bought any or didn't keep them. I do have one from the first summer as a family at Okoboji Summer Theater, which happened while we lived in Durango.
And that brings us to the present. A t-shirt filled year in Independence, KS
I wonder what my next t-shirt will be. What is the t-shirt story of your life?
