• last month
A mom who kept up a running joke for decades by wearing a t-shirt her daughter "detested” for over 30 years was left stunned when her daughter wore it to visit after her mom moved into senior living. The top was first worn by Linda Chartrand, 72, when her daughter Dorilee Lavin, 39, was in middle school, and made up of vibrant purples and pinks, odd patterns, and strange materials. A young Dorilee, from Burlington, Vermont, made her thoughts clear at the time, saying she "completely detested" the t-shirt, feeling embarrassed as it was so different to what other moms were wearing. Linda, however, decided to lean into the tee, making it a running joke, wearing it to cookouts, family dinners, picking Dorilee up from school, and, later, when she visited her daughter as an adult. Each time, Linda would look for her daughter's reaction and flag that she wore it just for her. She also assured Dorilee that, when she passes, she planned to leave her daughter the t-shirt as something to remember her by. Dorilee thought little of this on-going joke, but decades later, Linda told her that she had, in fact, made arrangements for the shirt to one day be hers. This gesture moved her 39-year-old daughter, and then, one day in the summer, Linda paid Dorilee a visit while she was in the process of moving into senior living. She surprised Dorilee with the top itself, which Dorilee said left her completely shocked. As soon as she received the garment, Dorilee immediately knew that she had to provide her mom with a loving gesture, too.
Transcript
00:00This mom never thought this would happen
00:03in a million years
00:05Dora Lee was on family vacation in the 90s when her mom Linda found her new favorite shirt at a thrift store
00:12And from the moment I saw it was like mom that shirt is so bad
00:17And from that moment the shirt turned into a decades-long family joke
00:22If she had to come and pick me up from school, what shirt was she wearing and I would like steam like a ball
00:28You know like oh mom nice shirt nice shirt. She'd pick me up for a doctor's appointment. She wore that shirt family barbecue
00:35She wore that shirt and as she grew older her mom even told her you just wait till I die
00:42I'm leaving it to you. I'm giving it to you like great mom. You gotta have something to remember me by like mom
00:47I'm just gonna burn that shirt. I wanted to burn it for years
00:50But after almost 30 years that sentiment changed and recently my mom made the transition to live in
00:58Senior housing and that like that has been hard
01:02right, um
01:05It's been really hard to have her like hand me the things that
01:10Like I made her through my life or that my kids have made her because she's trying to get all of her ducks in a row
01:20And to have her hand that to me
01:23I
01:24Mean everything that is a positive memory that I will carry with me
01:29Instead of like this sadness that my mom is gone
01:31And after she got it, she wanted to give her mom a positive memory, too
01:36So she decided to wear it for the first time in her life
01:53Me either
01:54Her mind who is so blown she goes
01:58I never in a million years would have ever thought Dora Lee would put that shirt on
02:02Because she truly thought that it was going to go into the trash or it was going to get burned the way that I said
02:09I'm gonna burn this shirt mom. It touched her heart a hundred percent. She feels pretty validated
02:15Because all of tick-tock is like, oh my god, where where did you get that shirt who makes it?
02:20That is an amazing shirt, and she just keeps going see Dora Lee like, okay, mom
02:25The world agrees with you don't have a guaranteed amount of time cherish those little inside jokes
02:32Because they really light up life right like life is not about
02:37Monetary value things it's about those little moments where you think about them and they're gonna make you smile for life
02:43and I am going to smile every time I think about my mom and that shirt and the history of it and
02:50Like that laugh that laugh of hers of total
02:55Surprise like head back
02:58Laughing and those are the moments that life is about

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