If I saw this on television I would laugh. And I think I did handle it very graciously....but I am convinced I am never going to be rid of this thing no matter what.
Background: Some ten years ago Hester gave me a T-Shirt she found in one of our local thrift stores.
"I thought of you immediately," she said "because I thought it would be something you could wear when you are doing story hours at work."
The item in question: an oversize neon green T-Shirt covered in sparkly jewels that accentuate the puffy paint picture of a kitty with a hair ribbon on the front. Yes it's cute and yes, I am sure the little ones would have liked it if I was actually allowed to wear a big T-Shirt to work. I DID wear it a couple of times on "special occasions" but the truth is: I am not a fan of this T-shirt color nor the art style nor the fact that it reads "hand wash in cold, exclusive of all decoration." Indeed, parts of the sparkly puffy paints were already peeling and cracking off the picture. Eventually, I stuffed it in the back of my closet and there it has been for some nine years.
Recently I told all of my friends that I was going to start a massive declutter of my home as part of my effort to strip down to basics and that I would only be keeping things that were really really "me." I went further and said "Guys, I am not throwing our friendships out, I am throwing out things that have accumulated around our friendships. There is plenty of room for YOU, but I can't keep everything that has been part of it." Everyone, including Hester, said "Good for you!"
My January project was cleaning my closet. In the course of cleaning...I found the shirt. I decided it was time to let it go because, of course, everyone understood! So I folded it up and tucked it in with five boxes of stuff I took to one of the local thrift stores.
So today, to thank me for doing some lettering work for her, Hester announced she had a surprise for me. And she handed me a little box with a pretty set of earrings that were in my favorite shade of green. THEN she hands me a bag and says "I was at the thrift shop in (town) and when I saw this, I thought immediately of you! It will be perfect for when you do story hours at work."
And to my horror, there was, yes, the neon green T-Shirt with the puffy kitty and glued on jewels all over the place. And I smiled, ehellions , and commented on how perfect it was for story hours (which she knows I haven't been doing for oh, the last seven years) and I thanked her profusely and so on. It's definitely the same shirt...the same puffy squiggles are still peeling away from the shirt.
And here's the question: How the heck do I get rid of this thing? My father suggested I mail it to him and he'll take it to a thrift shop in his area....but I can't help thinking it will somehow find its way back here and right back into my closet.
I don't think she remembers gifting me with it before--she's not that sneaky and she sounded genuine about thinking it was perfect. (But the fact that she said almost verbatim what she said the first time, however genuine, bothers me.) She added something about "If yu think it doesn't look right when you get it on, I suppose you can recycle it." I almost bit through my tongue to keep from saying "Tried that already, didn't work."
I plan to keep it in my closet for a few months more and then try taking it to a thrift store nowhere near here. Any advice to improve upon that?
(And yes, Hester is the friend who gifted another acquaintance with what was known as "the ugly plate." Acquaintance drove across three county lines to find a thrift store where she could leave it, only to get a call from Hester a week later in which Hester said "I am in [thrift shop where ugly plate had been left] and I founjd an exact duplicate of the plate I gave you for Christmas! Now you'll have two!" As I recall Acquaintance claimed to have accidentally broken the first plate.....)
