I have a coat that I have kept for many years now, that I still wear each time the air becomes colder and the new season takes over. The left pocket rips into the seam. Inside I am able to play with the innards of the jacket while I play with the soft fabric using my left index finger.

I kept my favourite boots for two years, even after I had scuffed them and torn small holes in the toes. "Why do you keep them?" some would ask, and each time I shrugged and told them the same excuse that I had told myself just to hang on to them.

The shirt I am wearing today was bought many years ago, and I have since watched two buttons fall off on the lace back. It doesn't do up the way it used to; only one button remains. Still I kept it.

I suppose I have a tendency to love broken things, but this does not make me ashamed. The ripped coat pocket that separates at the lining allows more space in the pocket for other things. The boots had been broken in perfectly one winter and now fit my feet in a way I have not seen since. The shirt looks better without the buttons, almost as though they were never meant to be there at all. Some things are better left broken.