Memries...

I was reading on academichic about memento clothes: items that belonged to relatives and/or have special personal significance.

I tend to really hold on to stuff, so I have a lot of these items. The shirt in the picture above gets lots of compliments. My dad bought it for my mom when he was a graduate student back in the mid-80s. I loved my mom's old clothes so much that I was convinced that if I had children, they would like my stuff and so I should hold on to them. To that effect I have been wearing down my favorite cross-country t-shirt since I got in 7th grade. I think my brother has it (along with most of my t-shirts) now. I gave them to him with the express command that he not lose them, and I think for awhile he wore almost exclusively Chapin girls cross-country shirts. Sometimes I feel emotionally attached to things that went on long epic trips with me, or that I've had for a really long time. My mom gave me this shoulder bag in high school, and I carried my school books in it into college. I had to sew it up time and again, but even now, when I carry its ratty goodness around, I feel close to my mom and my high school self: simple, happy, low-maintenance, a bit of a hippie. This is a terrible picture of it, I took it in my room in college when I was playing around with the features on my camera (which is now lost to an encounter with honey inside the very same bag and lots of dust in Wyoming). And, the blanket was my mother's in high school. It's on my couch right now.
This is more playing with my camera settings. I love these orange shoes! They were a 17th birthday present from my mom. I picked them out. They were $20 which seemed like a really big deal to me at the time. I really was a low-maintenance kid! (wow, I don't have half of the stuff I can see in this closet: the "stripper boots," the cleats from frisbee days, the not-waterproof boots, some polyester dresses, ew! and oh look, the sweater I got at Gap in 8th grade and STILL HAVE! I thought I was a big deal for getting something at Gap in season.)