stardate 12.8.2020

 

Textiles are the story of my life.

This might not exactly be true, but it isn’t untrue either.  I saw this tag line on a linkedin post by Karin Hazelkorn a while back.  I knew Karin growing up in Tucson.  She was a friend of Sara Van Slyke and then a friend of my mom’s.  She was, and is, a beautiful, warm, witty, smart woman with gorgeous red hair.  If I am honest, she is probably my first red headed crush, right before Amy Irving in Yentl. In fact, I think I saw Yentl with my mom and Karin when I was 13.  That was the day my mom predicted that I would marry a red headed woman.  She wasn’t wrong.

I have fallen out of touch with Karin in recent years, well since the early 90’s really.  A few years back I came across her name on linkedin, and sent a friend request or whatever you call it.  She sent me a lovely email right away and I had full intentions of answering back… But I never did.  

Yet here we are.  Her post about textiles was about the 1997 NCAA basketball championship and the UofA Wildcats, and her specific memories of that series while she was in Istanbul, and a championship t-shirt that she keeps in her mom’s hope chest.  It is a great story and it is well told.

In this season of sharing I would like to tell my own textile tale.  In a better world I would say that the beloved sweater my Matthew is pictured wearing is kept in a special hope chest somewhere but the truth is that it is most likely in a large rubbermaid tub in my in-laws garage, along with sweatshirts and t-shirts from the 80s and 90’s.

What is special about this sweater? It is one of the Colors of Benetton sweaters. My sister Jeni bought this for me for christmas, prior to the Cosby-sweater craziness and amidst the initial “controversial advertising” scandals.  I loved it. I wore it often,  Not too often initially because this was when I owned 35 sweaters and would not duplicate them until I had worn all the others.  Even so it was a favorite.  Long after the other sweaters were gone I’d pull this out and wear it.  It reminds me of being 19 and having little in my life that was more important than the clothes I wore and that I was not dressed like everyone else.  It reminds me of Benetton cologne although I know I would never have worn the cologne and the sweater on the same days, because that was too matchy matchy.  It reminds me of the early years I was married, because that house wasn’t the warmest in winter.  It reminds me of my job at the call center.  I put it away not long after that.  Along with the kid that I was.  I was growing up, and out of the sweater.

When my Paul was 10 I pulled it out of storage and he wore it occasionally on Sundays with an orange polo shirt and khaki cargo pants. I wish I had thought to take a picture but I didn’t.  He didn’t wear it very long, preferring baggy sweatshirts and hoodies.  So it went back in storage until a 14 year old Matthew pulled it out of storage, looking for something else. He wore it several times at the house because it was comfortable and cozy.  I don’t know that he wore it out of the house, but I know he has acquired my Benetton cologne and wears that occasionally.

This year my Matthew is 19.  Like I did, he left home, but instead of heading off to college, he is in Tucson Arizona, where I grew up, living with my sister Jen and working at Dedicated, her gluten free bakery.  To say that I am proud of him falls short of expressing how very proud of him that I am.  He is 19 and working at a level that grown adults aspire to. The Blue Willow restaurant liked a picture on the bakery’s instagram account of the thankful sammy, a turkey, dressing, cranberry and gravy sandwich that my Matthew created for Dedicated.  If you are not from Tucson that might not mean anything to you, but Jenni and I about fell out.  

I’d like to say that my Matthew took my sweater with him, but I know he didn’t.  He did take 41 t-shirts and I encouraged him to rotate through them to figure out which ones were his favorites, if only so he can winnow out some of them in the future.  I would also like to say his biggest concern in life is this t-shirt issue and a dad that won't stop texting him, but 2020 is not 1989.  I know he is growing up and becoming who he is going to be.  I’m sad to see him putting away the boy, but I am also excited about the man he is becoming.