After ten long years, I am finally the owner of a new swimsuit.It's this one, from Shade Clothing. You know how when you own an article of clothing for so long, you sometimes lose your ability to judge if it's still acceptable to be wearing out in public? It took a chance glance at a photograph of me wearing my old swimsuit to break the spell. Not only had I been wearing the same swimsuit since my sophomore year of high school, not only had it been purchased for a few dollars at Marshall's back in the day, and not only was it hideous to begin with (that was the reason I bought it - I went through a "the garishly-uglier, the better" phase), but I had worn it while pregnant with Miriam and it was stretched out in all the wrong places.
When my sister was here, we went swimsuit shopping to try to catch some summer clearance sales. All we found were racks crowded with mismatched two-piece tops and bottoms, all more for decoration than function - you know, the kind that you have to keep re-tying or adjusting. I thought I was doomed. Then Shade's swimsuits went on sale, my problem was solved, and my self confidence is restored. My old swimsuit was getting so bad that I didn't even feel comfortable wearing it to take Miriam swimming in our lane's shared pool, even though we're the only ones who are ever there.
I have a few other items of clothing that are very old that I wear on a regular basis. I've had my favorite pair of running shorts since 1995 and they are still going strong. In fact, that's them I'm wearing with my ancient swimsuit.
But I think the very oldest is the shirt from my 2nd-grade Girl Scout troop, which dates it back to 1989. Anyone who knows me probably knows the exact shirt I'm talking about, because I love this shirt beyond all reason. It's one of those where every girl drew a small picture about Girl Scouts and then we had them all silk-screened onto the shirt. My name is right under a drawing of a tent with what I can only assume is two people in sleeping bags inside.
What's the oldest article of clothing that you still wear on a regular basis?