Tee, tee, tee shirts

 ... Can you really have too many?

by Shirley Rabb

It is said of tee shirts that only your friends or relatives give them to you after they have enjoyed time wherever. This is not true in my case. I have 52 tee shirts in my dresser drawers in Melrose, and another 38 hanging in the closet at my home in Maine. Why would anyone need 90 tee shirts? I did get a few from friends. Many years ago a friend of mine made yearly visits to her daughter in Winnepeg, Canada. I never could remember the town so I started calling it East Overshoe (don't ask me why). On her return from one of her trips she brought me a tee shirt embossed with "East Overshoe". People that see the shirt say they know where the town is, but I know that I probably have the only tee shirt from East Overshoe. How can I throw this away? The year 2000 allowed me a trip to Israel. We walked the stages of the cross and visited a mosque and prayed at the Wailing Wall. We saw the country almost at peace for two weeks. I needed to have some tee shirts for those memories. In 2001 I visited China with a friend. We climbed the Great Wall and traveled many of the provinces of this enormous country. The Beijing zoo with the adorable pandas hold a place in my heart, so how could I not buy a few tee shirts? I have a few shirts from last years trip around the country. I picked up 12 tee shirts in three months as we drove around the perimeter of the United States and Canada. There is a shirt from Houston Space Center looking into the future.  And we happened on a fiesta in San Antonio. Okefenokee Swamp with the beautiful heron, osprey and ever present alligators. We stopped to visit family in Arizona and another tee shirt from the Grand Canyon was a must. The Crane Preserve in Baraboo, Wisconsin had lovely shirts. The Jello factory in New York, well that shirt was a must buy. I have a shirt from the North Shore Music theatre. Given to me by a friend when we went to see the play "Crazy For You". I have realistic looking wild animal shirts, and one from the horticultural society. I had a shirt made with my cat's picture when she passed away few years ago. Clearly Camelot, I could not possibly throw this away. One from H.O.M.E., an outreach program in Maine and my shirt saying "I love Maine life". These shirts keep me focused on the peacefulness of that state. There is a shirt that says "They've  found something that does the work of five men ... one woman". There is musical and marvelous Bourbon Street where we had a fun time. Niagra Falls, majestic, powerful and breathtaking. A cute one with a cat that says "aged to purrfection". Another gift came from a friend who served in the military. This shirt from the Desert Storm conflict. I could not possibly throw this one away. One from Boston depicting people hanging on to the overhead straps on the "T".  The Upper Story book shop in Sanford Maine, this one a gift. Also in Maine my bicentennial shirt from Shapleigh, Maine, dated 1785-1985. Never to be produced again. How could I throw this one away? Lake Louise in Canada and the Roger Williams zoo in Rhode Island. Bosque Del Apache in New Mexico, this shirt has a beautiful replica of a great horned owl front and back. A  shirt from the Museum of Science where a few years ago when we went to see the exhibit of Ramesses the Great. This won't be coming back to Boston again, so this shirt stays also. A friend visiting Hawaii gave me a shirt. And my shirt from New York with Mickey Mouse in a red, white, and blue hat. This has to stay. There are free-bees from various functions; shirts with company names and advertisements. Most of these are my work tee shirts, these a definite necessity. The colors vary, of course. Whites and blues and greens, browns, and purples, and reds. One orange and a lemon yellow jello shirt. You understand my dilemma. How could I possibly throw any of them away?

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