My raggedy, stained, and dearly loved sweatshirt

Everyone has that one sweatshirt that they have had for as long as they can remember. The sweatshirt you put on when you’re having a bad day and all you want to do is curl up in front of the TV with some ice cream and relax. The sweatshirt that has numerous stains from numerous occasions, some with funny stories going along with them, and some you have no idea where it came from. It might have some rips or tears or be a little faded, but something in you can’t bear to ever put in the throw away pile. This sweatshirt for me is navy blue and says Frost Valley is white in big block letters across the front. It was a YMCA camp my sisters went to one summer, and I decided it would look better on me, so therefore took the initiative to steal it from her closet. It’s been through a lot including many muddy field hockey games in high school, it’s been on the verge of freezing while being soaking wet from sledding in the snow for hours, and has at times accumulated quite a bit of dog hair from my husky. After my sister went to camp at Frost Valley, my family went up every Martin Luther’s Day weekend with her friend’s families and did fun winter activities all weekend. It was then I got a Frost Valley sweatshirt of my own. I got the exact same one as my sister, navy blue with white writing, but I wasn’t satisfied. I immediately switched them, so I was once again in possession of my sisters. She caught on very soon considering I’m five years younger and had gotten a youth size which did not exactly fit her. But I never gave it, and still kept the slightly too big for me one that I loved so much. One thing about this sweatshirt that never ceases to amaze me is that every single time I wear it, which is quite a bit, someone recognizes Frost Valley and asks me if I went to camp there. I could be in upstate New York, where the camp is located, in my hometown in New Jersey, or even all around the country in Florida or California, and the sweatshirt never fails to attract the attention of someone. For this reason, this sweatshirt has become the sweatshirt I throw on when I’m in a bad mood and just want to snuggle in my blankets and watch a movie. It’s the sweatshirt that I can see myself wearing in way too many pictures on Facebook. It’s the sweatshirt that even though it looks pretty beat up I can never bare to put in the throw away pile.