A couple of years ago, my mom got me a sweater for Christmas. So what, right? I bet most of you are thinking that your uncle/brother/partner/friend bought you a sweater for Christmas a few years ago. And last year. And probably this year, too. But this is not an ordinary sweater. Like Harry Potter’s Invisibility Cloak, it is a garment that does much more than keep me warm in winter months—it transports me through time. It sounds unbelievable, I recognize, but I will explain.
I loved this sweater from the moment I laid eyes on it. It is a vintage letterman sweater from Central High School in Detroit. It is red, double thread wool with buttons likely made of bone, and it is in surprisingly good shape considering it is from 1948. That’s right. My sweater turned 70 this year, and is still trotting around, jaunty and attention-getting, all the way across the country from where it started.Continue Reading