Museum of Me: April 2023

The opening of this month's Museum of Me exhibit was delayed, but the Museum is now open and ready for you to check out the old, worn-out thing I can't bring myself to part with. I'm not an overly sentimental person and can usually part with things fairly easily once they've outlived their usefulness, but this item is a bit different. It's both old and worn out, but I've given it a second life, and I still can't part with it. 

My mother used to give me a flannel nightgown every year for Christmas. I always looked forward to receiving this gift and was excited to see what she had chosen each year. I don't have a photo of the last nightgown she gave me, but it was the Christmas of 2000. She had just been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and I had a feeling that this might be the last Christmas she would be with us. I was surprised to even receive a flannel nightgown that year since Mom had brain metastases and was hardly able to make a phone call or use a computer to shop online. But she gave me a lovely bright red and white flannel nightgown from L.L. Bean and I treasured it. I didn't even wear it for a couple of years because I wanted to save it, but eventually, I did start wearing it and it helped a bit when I missed her. 

Several decades passed and you can imagine that the nightgown had become worn, faded, and was starting to fall apart in that time. I folded it and put it away carefully because I just couldn't get rid of it. One day when I saw it in my armoire, I had an idea. My clothespin holder had recently fallen apart and I thought there would be plenty of fabric in the nightgown to make a new one. So that's what I did.

I used it to hold my clothespins outdoors for about a year but finally admitted that being outside wasn't conducive to preserving it, so it's now my indoor clothespin holder. It's not subjected to the elements at all, and I can still avoid getting rid of it for maybe another couple of years. 

So that is the story of the old, worn-out last nightgown from my mother that I can't part with and what it's become. I suppose that someday the top seams will start to rip through the worn fabric, my clothespins will fall on the cellar floor, and I'll have to decide what to do with it then. But that day isn't today. 

How about you? Do you have something old and worn-out that you just can’t bear to part with? I'd love to hear your story!

Thank you for visiting The Museum of Me and I hope you'll check back on the second Friday in May for a brand new exhibit.