Each t-shirt tells a story.

This evening I was trying to find a t-shirt to take to my mom's. I have a deep drawerful of shirts that I wear when I want to go extremely casual, as most of them are old, and at least a third are ill-fitting. 

Since I can barely close the drawer, and I had no idea of half of what is buried there, I decided to take everything out and see what I had. Surprisingly, I had remembered almost all of them, and many brought back memories, which is unfortunate as it makes it tough to give them up.

Here are some of their stories: 

This is probably my oldest tee. Twenty-two years ago this past February, I stayed awake and on my feet for 48 hours (plus about 10 more before and after) for Penn State's Dance Marathon. I am proud of that feat and being a part of something that helps so many pediatric cancer patients. The hallucinations I could have done without. Regardless, I wear this tee some years during THON weekend.

Depeche Mode was the first concert at the Civic Arena I went to without my parents. A couple hours prior to the show, my then-boyfriend and I were waiting at a McD's for our friends from Penn State, who had our tickets. They got lost, and never showed up, so we headed to the Arena, and walked around for quite some time until we found them (this was before cell phones). It was a good show; DM was one of the few groups I have seen several times (I am not a big concert goer). How can I get rid of this?!

 I think I bought this shirt at a resale/record store, either towards the end of college or a year out. I still remember being there with my friend Beer, who was bummed he had not seen it first. NIN is one of the other groups I have seen a few times. I have not worn this in years, but it represents a wilder time in my life (as well as a time when I wore a lot of black).

I bought this shirt at the Three Rivers Arts Festival, sometime in the early 90s. I loved tie dye (still kind of do), and even though it is big on me, I just can't part with it. I vow to wear it this summer!

I ran my first Great Race in 2001. It was a few weeks after 9/11, and patriotism was high. I ran with a tiny flag; some people ran all 6.2 miles with a giant flag. It was a great experience. I last ran it 13 years ago, and I hope to do it again, but the 5K version. 

For several years, I walked the 10 miles for the MS Walk, in honor of my now-late aunt who had MS. The walk took us all over Pittsburgh, which was really cool. The year of this shirt, I did the shorter 5 miles, as I was pretty sure the 10 miles would be too much thanks to having a baby eight months earlier and no longer being in awesome shape. Unfortunately, I have not done the walk since (and they no longer do 10 miles). I can probably part with it.

I have run the Race for Pace more than any other 5K (four times, I think). The year of this shirt, 2012, I had taken a couple years off from racing, and in this particular race, I ended up in 3rd place in my age group, for which I was recognized after the fact in a little ceremony with my friend Diane. I sadly have not seen Diane since. 

I bought this tee at Kohl's a week or two after the Pens won the Cup in 2009. I can still remember how soft the shirt felt. In fact, when I picked it up for the pic, I was surprised it was still a little soft. Unfortunately, many wearings of this shirt has worn it out (not to mention the unsightly deodorant stains). But I just can't give it up until I can replace it with another Stanley Cup shirt. I had my ones from the '90s for almost two decades. Let's hope I don't repeat that for this shirt!

Finally, I give you this shirt. For several years while I was underemployed, I went to this coffee shop at least once a month. A lot of the same people came week after week, and it was just nice to chill out there, drink my cappuccino and read the P-G. The shirt is not particularly comfortable or great fitting, but I actually still wear it from time to time because I have not only uttered "I'll sleep when I'm dead" various times, but also Vince closed the place about two years ago, so I keep it as a memento.

Note that for this post, I did not include any of my "nice" Steelers, Pens, Pirates, Penn State, or Pitt shirts. Sadly (or not), I have more than two dozen of those altogether.

But those shirts above? They tell a story. I bet some of yours do too.