What is the oldest thing in your closet?  What item is off-limits when it comes to spring cleaning every year?   How long have you had it? Why do you still have it?  Could you ever let it go?

Elizabeth Gardner still clings to a medieval gown her mother made as a 10th grade Halloween costume. Lizzy still wears it just about every Halloween.

For Kelcey Carlson it was her first expensive dress – a 1996 polka dot beauty. Kelcey also has a strong sentimental attachment to a 1995 pair of black J. Crew dress pants purchased for her by a grandmother.

Brian Shrader recently moved to a new house and purged his closets. Brian put it this way: “I threw away everything that I hadn’t worn in the past year. It was uncomfortable, being as sentimental as I am, but two months later, I haven’t even thought about that old stuff. I also threw away a bunch of T-shirts. I only wear T-shirts on the weekend, so I need two a week. And I’m too old to wear T-shirts that say things. You know what I mean?”

For me it’s a ninth grade bright red NC State sweatshirt. I was gladiator on the basketball court whenever I wore it. After graduating from UNC more and more blue apparel filled my closet. I still have several items from the 1982 NCAA National Championship basketball game UNC won in New Orleans thanks to a clutch shot by Michael Jordan.

What about you?  What’s the oldest piece of clothing that still clings to your closet?  I'll give one of my books to the person with the most interesting answer.