I bought this t-shirt of a cockroach playing a grand piano, Roachmaninoff, at a thrift store on my first date with Leeta back in 2003. I wore it for a time, eventually retiring it as it had essentially become a family heirloom.

In 2019 I posted a photo of the shirt to my Instagram page recounting the memory. The post caught the eye of a Hollywood writer, Kathryn, who had their own encounter with Roachmaninoff at a vintage shop ten years prior, but didn’t buy it to their later regret. Kathryn was ecstatic to see my post and reached out, offering a large sum of money for the shirt. As it was a memento of a special moment in my life, I politely declined, but later changed my mind, deciding that paying the shirt forward was the right thing to do. Perhaps this connection over a weird cockroach t-shirt could turn into a project of some kind down the road…

That project has yet to materialize, but weeks after I sent Kathryn the shirt, she mailed back a faithful embroidered recreation sewn by her mother. Complete with anniversary date!