Old enough to know ‘better’ is in the eye of the beholder

The new trend to thin your closets and let go of excess junk in your life begins with the question, “Does this item bring me joy?”

That’s a great idea, and I’m glad so many people feel good about it, but the questions, “Will this item come back in style?” or “Will this item bring me joy in the form of dollah-dollah bills when it comes back into favor?” may be other suggestions to make while thinning the excess personal baggage.

Take into consideration the spiffy-as-heck tractor pulling OOIDA’s Spirit trailer.

The brand-new Western Star 5700XE has a throwback thunderbird paintjob, reminiscent of the hard-to-find and expensive-to-restore ’60 s and ’70s model White’s Western Star COE. If you do find one of those, nowadays it’s not likely the original paint job is still intact.

These are the trucks I remember from my childhood. Beefy and painted-up pretty. Western Star did a great job of marrying old-school cool with new-fangled slick. It works on this particular truck, and I love it.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the old/new fashion throwback to high-waist ladies jeans and the “messy-bun” look worn by Sally Field in Smokey and the Bandit.

Talk about beefy and painted up pretty – I thought I’d do a little throw-back fashion show while thinning my own closet. I imagined that I might don my very own “Frog” outfit and travel around in vogue trucking fashion without having to spend a dime.

I finally wriggled myself into an ancient pair of high-waist jeans I found crammed in a box in the bottom of the closet. Took me a couple minutes to realize they were maternity pants. That was right after noticing that my “messy bun” wasn’t so much Sally Field as it was Miss Peregrine’s Home for Emotionally Unstable Old People.

Needless to say, this did not bring me joy. It did, however, confirm the fact that not everyone can go retro and do it well.

Out with the old, and in with the new. And thankfully, Western Star is better at meshing the two than I am. But if your momma’s cousin has a friend who knows someone with a pristine late 1960s White’s Western Star COE with the thunderbird package that isn’t bringing them joy anymore, hit me up.