You are here because you are looking for something cheap, something that you'll maybe wear just one time, or continue to wear it until it goes out of style or doesn't fit.
You search the whole store to find the perfect shirt and once you do, you'll go to the fitting room to make sure it fits. It's a short sleeve shirt so you can wear it year round, with a sweatshirt in the winter and by itself in the summer. You score one hell of a deal on it so you decide that it will be your new favorite shirt, and there will always be a hanger on reserve for it in your closet.
The shirt belonged to someone before you, the shirt holds memories of a time before you owned it, it was somebody else's favorite shirt too.
She bought that shirt for their first day of their freshman year in high school, unaware that all the "cool" kids only wore shirts with their belly hanging out. She felt beautiful in the shirt.
She wore it to their first job interview, hoping their attire would help them get the job. She felt hopeful in the shirt.
She wore it to their first high school football game, hoping to meet someone cute. She was cautious of eating nachos in it, because she didn't want to get it dirty. She felt confident in the shirt.
She was wearing it when they found out their friend was diagnosed with cancer. The owner cried her eyes out in the shirt, her mascara was wiped along the sleeves. She was devastated in that shirt.
She wore it on a day when tests were given back. They grade was lower than expected. She felt defeat in that shirt.
She wore it at the party after prom. She spilled her first drink all over it. She felt humiliation in that shirt.
She found it in the back of her closet by the time she was ready to pack for college. She no longer had a hanger reserved for it, it no longer was her favorite shirt and it no longer fit as loose as it did. Before her road trip to college she stopped at the thrift store you bought it at and was ready to give it away.
When you shop at a thrift store you are buying an article of clothing that someone else experienced life in. It is up to you to continue to make memories in the shirt that meant so much to someone else. and make that article of clothing your own. I hope you are able experience great memories while wearing it, just like the previous owner did before you.
