I’ve been wanting to tell you about my green raincoat. It is currently spread out in my airB&B getting spot-cleaned for the famous gelato I clumsily dribbled down the front of this green coat. It had stopped raining and the sun came out. The landlady had mentioned a famous gelato place nearby so when I saw the long line I knew I had time to wait and check that off my list. My list will change once I return home next week. I am hoping for a new improved normal with less gelato, travel, uncomfortable twin beds, snoring friends, covid, and the other things that have been hard but stretched me. I knew I needed one coat to get me through winter in Switzerland and London, then early spring (more rain) in Italy and Albania.
I was heading to Alderwood Mall last September and had googled the stores that might have a good coat. They were so expensive that I thought I might try Wal-Mart first. I remember a few successes in the past. Once I took my daughter on a soccer road-trip and she found some end of summer clothes that I could afford to purchase. Another time I found a spring jacket that garnered compliments from a very fashionable workmate. When she asked where I found it, the look on her face let me know that she disapproved of Wal-Mart. No matter. Now – I was not looking for a green coat because that doesn’t go with everything. I found it in the men’s department and it cost 10% of what I could have spent. It is lined with camouflage and is machine washable. I have worn it almost everyday since September, which by the time I return home on Sunday, will be about 186 days or about 21 cents a day for this coat. The pockets are large and I have not lost my passport. The hood saved me again from a storm today. It is green – my Mother’s favorite color. What could be better? Will I keep this coat? Of course I will, but, it will hang in a closet so I can wear anything else! It is a memento of the many wonderful places it has been and the many wonderful people I have been blessed to do “life” with! Frugal is good and I hope that I will work at being careful with not squandering time or money. There will come a day when Jesus will receive me and I don’t want to regret missing the best because I settled for good.
The green raincoat is an exception because the good was perfect! Value is a word we toss around and refers to the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. That is for every season but especially now for me.
