Christmas Shirt

Most of my T-shirts have logos or messages on them; most of the designs have to do with favorite places in the world that I've actually visited and loved. So, in a sense, the shirts double as souveniers. I love wearing them for the memories, but hate wearing them because the more I wear one, the faster it wears out, eventually becoming unwearable.

I love the ocean, and have spent years of my life on or near a beach. So, one day in 1986 or so, I spotted an ocean-centric T-shirt in a Ron Jon Surf Shop south of Daytona, and instantly fell in love with it. Purchased!

It was instantly my favorite shirt, and I wore it so often that, a decade later, it was still whole but, as you can see from the below photo (taken in Connecticut with then-young friends Colin and Devan Fischer).

One day last year the memory of that shirt popped into my head and I thought to look for it online when I stumbled on a link to "retro" T-shirts. Sure enough, I found a match! Or close enough to one. I put it on my online Wish List and forgot about it.

Well, yesterday was Christmas and my son, John, came through on the Wish List and the shirt. I recounted most of yesterday's gifts, yesterday; but I overlooked this present until after I had posted yesterday's blog.

Ah, in the first picture, I was young and the shirt was old. In the second, the shirt is young and I am old.

But how grateful I am to be an old guy with kids who give me meaningful presents!