Good-bye, old friend! No, actually, au revoir . . .

The old friend in this case is not a person, but rather an article of clothing. In fact, it's my favorite gardening shirt . . . and today was its last hurrah. I've been working day and night on a project that's progressing much too slowly and today I decided to take a short gardening break and enjoy the lovely mild weather. (Isn't that just the way with the garden? When you have lots of time to garden the weather is brutally cold or hot or wet, but on days when you shouldn't even think about the garden the weather is perfect!)

So today I had to admit that this shirt is just too worn and I'm a little sad because it's the best thing ever to wear while gardening. It's perfect under my gardening apron; it's soft as only a laundered-hundreds-of-times cotton shirt can be; the long sleeves protect my arms from scratches, bugs, and the sun (sadly, it's not so much the cancer threat that worries me as more freckles!).

And thinking of the history of this shirt, I am reminded of a few nostalgic things:

• the years when my husband wore a suit every day (of course, this was originally his shirt)
• the time when Abercrombie and Fitch really was a Gentleman's Outfitter and their catalogs didn't require plain, brown wrappers
  
• the years when we still had a good local tailor who would turn collars and cuffs for less than $10! (and yes, these were turned before I inherited the shirt)
  

And one final tribute to this well-made garment - after years and years of use, it still has all the original buttons!

So what's next for this ripped and torn shirt? The fabric is so friendly, or, as they say in textiles, it has a great hand - so I'm turning it into a pillow for the hammock! I'll let you know how it turns out . . . in the meantime I'll be breaking in a new shirt from my husband's Old Shirt Collection. If only I could find a good use for those early '90s military-stripe ties!