My Multicolored Sweater

MY MULTICOLORED SWEATER About ten years ago, I was the manager of an on the beach condo complex.  Our units were rented by the month or by the week, with summer rentals by the week only. People left all sorts of items behind.  They left pillows and blankets and diamond rings and wedding rings.  They left false teeth and medications and just about anything else you could name. We did our best to get belongings back to their rightful owners, but did not always succeed. One summer, someone left this multicolor sweater behind.  I put it up into the sand closet, after offering it to tenants for about four summers.  No one claimed it.  It sat in the sand closet for another two years and every time I opened the sand closet door, the darn thing would fall out.  I, dutifully, picked it up and put it back in and closed the doors.  But, the next time I opened the sand closet door it would fall out again.  I got to where I would just give it a hard kick back into the closet after cursing it for being so stubborn. Finally, after about six years, I decided to give it to the cleaning lady who had worked for us for years. I took the cursed thing out of the sand closet to give it to her, but all those years of kicking it had soiled it.  I decided to wash it before giving it to her. I threw it into the washer, turned the machine on hot and then threw it into the dryer. When I took it our of the dryer, it was not quite dry, so I brought into my house and threw it over the back of a chair to finish drying. Elbert came home from his gallery in Santa Barbara and said “ Wow!  That is the most beautiful sweater that I have ever seen.  Where on earth did you get it?”   I told him the story and he said “Don’t you dare give it away.  It is too special.” So, I, dutifully, wore the darn thing to the grocery store.  No less than 5 people stopped me in the isle to say what a beautiful sweater I was wearing.  So much for my taste in clothes. A few days later, I was wearing it  in the laundry room, when one of my tenants commented on the sweater and asked where I bought it.  It seems she had bought one for her husband, but in shades of gray, and she like mine much better.  She informed me that she had paid $400 for his. It turned out that it was a Coogi sweater and was hand made in Australia.  The colors were bright and many and the fabric looks as though it was made of carefully selected knit fabric. I retired from my position as manager of the condos back in 2006 and have been wearing my sweater ever since.  It still looks brand new, although, I do take more care in washing it these days. Today, I wear my sweater with pride.  It is lightweight  for spring and fall and yet heavy enough for cold winter days.  I never wear it without strangers stopping me on the street to compliment it and I always tell them the story of how I came to have such a beautiful handmade Coogi sweater from Australia and what great taste my husband has in clothes. Shirley Tracy Price June 6, 2011

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