What do you refuse to get rid of even after it's seen its better day?
July 17, 2024 | Sparkle Wednesday
When I was little, I remember my dad wearing a black, grey and rust-red striped terry cloth bathrobe. I wish I had a photo. He wore that robe past the threadbare stage. It was well-worn. I'm not talking wabi-sabi level. This robe was basically a rag with a belt. I always wondered why he didn't just buy himself a new robe.
This is where the story gets hazy for me. I'm not sure if this is an accurate memory or something else, but I think I remember asking him why he didn't just get rid of this old ratty bathrobe. He told me that it was a gift from his late mother. Psst…Family- is this this correct? Do you remember this?
Last night, as I was doing the dishes, I held out my towel (a kitchen favorite; it’s soft and dries well) and noticed that it, too, had transformed into a ratty rag without me even realizing it. Did I toss it? No. Sometimes the ratty, worn stuff feels good and actually seeing and being part of the wear is cool. This towel dried a lot of dishes from family dinners and makes me feel happy.
Similarly, I have this little buckwheat pillow on a chair in my bedroom. It's a red satin floral print and the case is shredded and dotted with holes in areas. It was a gift from Jackson (and David; Jackson was not even two) for my hospital stay when Leo was born. I'll never part with it. The wear doesn’t matter. In fact, it makes it better.
What about you? What do you refuse to get rid of even after it's seen its better day?
I have a skirt that I bought 15 years ago. I got it at a boutique where my sister lives in Bloomington, Indiana. The boutique is long gone but the skirt has staying power. No one except me likes the skirt and they have weighed in with their opinions. The best thing is that the skirt is reversible so I can kind of wear it all the time..one side is pilling a little and I splattered paint on it so I'm down to one side but hoping to get another 10 years out of it.
He wore that robe when I was a young kid so yeah, it probably was a gift. I don’t keep a lot of stuff, but do have family photos that I am meaning to put into albums. Maybe this winter?!
I save some art materials because I always think I might use them again.