I need a new favorite shirt

I don't know if this is something that is only true for guys, but I've always had a favorite shirt at just about every point in my life. A piece of clothing that immediately is worn after it is washed for just about every circumstance. Something that is both comfortable and maybe a bit stylish. That second one isn't a deal-breaker, by the way. I had a long-sleeve t-shirt that fit just right back in college that was faded, ripped and stained. I had no particular design that I remember, and I bought it in a thrift shop for about two bucks. But I wore that mother-fucker out!

For the last 5 years or so of the 1990's, I had another favorite shirt that continues to taunt me to this very day. I even wrote about it once before. It was a blue plaid, very lightweight, button-down cotton flannel shirt from Eddie Bauer. I bought it from a clearance rack too. And the reason why it continues to taunt me is because Treat Williams wore it in one of my favorite bad movies of all-time, Deep Rising. A true guilty pleasure flick.  Here it is:

Now what?

Sigh.

Every time I see that film or think of it, I get a little sad. That was a helluva shirt. Because it was lightweight, I could wear it all year round. In fact, I probably wore it more often in the summer than I did in the winter. Roll up the sleeves, open a button or three and it was extremely comfy for a night out. Or even a day at the beach, oddly enough. It was a great shirt. And believe me, I've spent countless hours searching for something similar, but nothing has come close.

Then I found a great comfortable t-shirt at The Green Parrot Bar in Key West sometime around 2000. Great skeleton design with the logo "Where the weird are welcome...for a while". That appealed to me. Plus, The Green Parrot is my absolute favorite bar in the entire world. Great atmosphere, great bands, great jukebox, great bartenders and a great location. Right near mile marker 0 on US1. So far, I've gone through two of those t-shirts and I'm due for another. They are comfy as all hell, but they aren't very sturdy. Both of my previous versions started to fall apart after about a year of constant wear. Gia has been wearing shirt #2 around the house for a while now, and it literally looks more like a cleaning rag now than a t-shirt.  It ain't stopping her, though.  She loves that shirt.   They are still making them, so I may need to buy another couple of them in the near future.

Lately I've been fond of something called a "grandfather flannel" shirt that I bought from The Vermont Country Store. I had one of these back in college. A gift from my aunt. At the time it was way too big for me. It almost went down to my knees. It sort of looked like a shirt version of one of those long nightshirts that the grandfather wore in Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.  You know the one.   I've, ahem, gained a few pounds since college, and I was hankering for another one.  So I did a quick Google search to see if anyone still makes them, and they do. It's a flannel pullover with a tab collar and three or four buttons. Very comfy, but a little too heavy to wear after May 1st. So it will probably sit dormant in the closet for the next 3 or 4 months. A favorite shirt really needs to be a year-round thing, don't you agree?

So I need a new favorite shirt. This is a thing. A real thing. It's something that bothers bothers me on an almost daily basis. And here's another problem. It's not something that you can usually search out. It's something that generally finds YOU instead of you finding IT. Like that long-sleeved t-shirt in college at a thrift shop, or that lightweight flannel on a clearance rack at Eddie Bauer, or the super comfy skeleton t-shirt found at your favorite bar. There's a lot of karma, serendipity, kismet or whatever involved. 

So if you are out there, new favorite shirt, I'm waiting for you. Sniff.

___________________________________________________

Note: Remember to play the Badgerdaddy Trivia Challenge every day. Seriously...this is a thing.