The shirt I’m wearing in my Fresh Start photos and videos is one I know if my mom and dad were still alive, they’d both be appalled to see me wearing!

But I chose it on purpose because it’s my favorite shirt of all time, and because it represents a huge part of my history. I’ve had that denim shirt for 20+ years, and from the very day I bought it, I’ve loved it so much!

When I was packing for the start of the first leg of the actual “imposition tour” — which was when Lou and I very first started living out of our car — that denim shirt was pretty much the first item of clothing I packed. It’s always been the perfect shirt. It knows my body, and my body knows it. I’ve never had an item of clothing I’ve felt this attached to…or one that I’ve quite literally worn to shreds.

But here’s the craziest thing about that shirt…

I live in Northern California where the devotion to Levi’s and the Gap are nearly elevated to a form of religion, and that well-worn denim look is a part of this very specific “hi-low” trend that you see in San Francisco and all over the Wine Country. So every time I wear that shirt, people stop to ask me where I got it. A few weeks ago, I wore it to the Sonoma Farmer’s Market, and four different people at four different times asked me about my shirt, and then looked deeply impressed to find out it was “very vintage Gap.” 

Who knew that a torn shirt with so much personal history could end up being such a fashion statement?  (Probably not my mom or my dad!)

So when I picked that shirt for my photoshoot, it was a deliberate choice not only because it’s my favorite shirt, but also because to me, it represents something I love and all of the things I’ve endured. And maybe, for the first time in ages, the authentically worn stories inside of me will mean something more to the people around me who choose to read them.