When Your Clothes Are Older Than Your Kids...

After dinner, and when the cat wants in from the cold, my son's beautiful Standard Poodle can get a little jumpy. After a year and a half of having him with us, we're learning how to make these times of the day productive for him. We play with him, throw balls and squeaky toys for him to retrieve. After a while, both he and us get tired and we settle down. Tonight, my arm got in the way of an excited doggie's teeth. The result--a punctured sweatshirt.

It's not big deal--it's a small hole and we'll darn it before it goes in the wash, thus preserving the garment for another day.

I've had this sweatshirt for a long time. Seeing it damaged, albeit very little damage, got me to thinking. Just how long have I had this sweatshirt?

Turns out, I've had it for twenty-five years.

And it might even be twenty-six years old.

I remember where I got it, just not exactly when. So, I did a little research. My friend Bob and I attended a NCAA mens basketball tournament in the building where the Utah Jazz play. We had some time to kill before the games so we did a little shopping at the mall a few blocks east of where the tournament was held. He and I both bought sweatshirts.

I thought it was during a Mountain West tournament, back when the University of Utah Utes played in that conference. A quick search later told me this was not the case. For as long as Utah was in the Mountain West (about a decade...), the tournament was never held in Salt Lake City.

So, I went back further, back to the days of the Western Athletic Conference, or WAC. I pulled up the WAC tournament history and there were two years that it was played at the Delta Center in SLC...1993 and 1994. That means, this sweatshirt that suffered its first bit of damage today is over a quarter century old.

I've bought a couple of U of U t-shirts over the years, but never a new sweatshirt. Why would I? The one I have is perfectly fine. And after a quick needle and thread application, it will be even better. It's just hard to justify getting a new one. 

Of course, if I did, I wonder if it will hold up as well as this one has. If so, I could be wearing it when I'm almost eighty.