The oldest garment in the closet?

 So the other day I put on my favorite zip-up hoodie and noticed that the cuffs are fraying. 

Sigh.  I love this hoodie.  It’s soft, it’s lightweight, it’s perfect  for when the weather is just starting to get cool.  It’s basic gray, goes with everything,  

But it’s old.  I’ll wear it around the house, but it’s no longer suitable to wear in public.

Sigh.

I bought the hoodie in California.  I was on a business trip to San Diego. It was June, and I assumed that I was heading to “sunny California “.  No one warned me about “May gray” and “June gloom”.  I didn’t pack any sort of sweater or jacket.

Flew into San Diego on a Wednesday evening,  collected my suitcase, picked up my rental car and drove  to my hotel in Mission Valley.  And discovered June gloom.  I was mildly uncomfortable.

Spent all of Thursday in meetings, went out to dinner with my colleagues Thursday night.  Spent all day Friday in meetings. So the weather wasn’t a huge factor.

But when my colleagues learned that I wasn’t flying back to New York until Saturday, and that I’m a baseball fan, they suggested I go to the Padres game Friday night.

Well, I wasn’t going to sit in a ballpark for several hours on a chilly, damp night unless I had appropriate attire.  

The plan was to head over to the large shopping center near my hotel, buy a sweater or sweatshirt or whatever, then go back to the hotel to change into comfortable clothes before heading to the ballpark.

I quickly found what I was looking for - a simple gray hoodie.  Went back to the hotel … and fell asleep (jet lag).  Never made it to Petco Park.

But I did wear the hoodie the following day, when I drove along the shoreline to see a bit of the city before getting on the plane.

That trip was just a few years ago …in 2011.

No wonder the cuffs are frayed.  

The hoodie has survived through multiple purges of my closet.  It’s not the oldest thing I own, but it’s close …

I blogged about the trip here, here, here and here.  Wish I’d written more …