where are you black sweatshirt?

I really really really miss my black sweatshirt.

It all started about two weeks ago. I found a great orange shirt on sale for $4 and snatched it up with little thought to what I would do with it. It was such a good deal the rest didn't really matter. I just had to get the shirt. Post purchase, I sat pondering (literally) how i would wear this new purchase... and it came to me... layers. and the outer layer would be a black sweatshirt. It just so happens that I had one in my closet, so the next morning, eager to put together my new outfit, i whipped it out and put it all together. Then i saw it... "it" wasn't just one thing. "It" was several things.

Before I continue here I would like to illustrate a fact of my life that I have learned to live with throughout the years. I have a very vivid imagination. I can create idealistic scenarios in my mind with so much detail and perfectness that often times when i attempt to recreate it in reality, I am disappointed. When i was very young (say about 2nd grade) I remember lying in bed one night imagining that I could draw a picture of a raccoon. I had it pictured in my mind and imagined my pencil perfectly forming the delicate lines that eventually made up a very realistic looking raccoon. I was beyond excited about bringing this to life and so the very next morning when I got to my classroom I busted out a piece of paper and a pencil and began to draw what I had completed in my mind the night before. However, all did not go as planned. My fingers would not obey what my mind thought up... and i ended up with a very, very unrealistic looking raccoon. In fact it probably didn't even resemble any kind of animal in the raccoon family, or any family... it was sad... I was sad.

After this experience I learned to leave many things to my imagination... but some things just have to be brought to life. And this particular outfit was one of them.

The "it" that i referred to adds up to a list of things so very wrong with my black sweatshirt. It had a couple, if not more, what looked like halfway bleached bleach stains. There were small tears from the last three years of constant wear. And to top it off, it had been washed and worn so many times it looked like i inherited it from a much larger someone than myself.

It just would not do.

But it had to suffice... for the time being. I decided right then that i needed to buy another black sweatshirt... and I would do it today. TODAY. So i went off to my very favorite clothing store, Old Navy to find one... there was an enormous sale going on, so as i was distracted from my main purpose, I still did not forget... and then, there it was. Sitting on a shelf, so lonely... and MARKED DOWN... to $7. It was a happy day...

This all brings me to today. my beloved black sweatshirt that helped me accomplish in reality what i had imagined is taking a vacation amongst alicia's clothing. I miss you dear sweatshirt, and i wish that you would come back to me. I think about you every day and when you come back, I promise to appreciate you for everything you are worth... just about $6.97.