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My Green Raincoat

Posted on March 27, 2023March 27, 2023 by Pam

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.

THE COAT – MY LAST DAY IN FLORENCE

"Thoughts from a genuinely evaluative mind."

Pam writes so that must make her a writer. Recently retired, she can now fill days with family, friends, missions, writing, creating, and showing up for whomever needs her. Pam loves the Lord and people. The Bible is God’s love letter to us (and who does not need more love) so she studies and writes some more.

Pam lives in the Pacific Northwest but was home-grown in Southern California. She attended San Jose Bible College and finished a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry at UCLA. She became a teacher, then a Research and Development Chemist, then she built two successful real estate businesses in two states. Pam also pursued study at Fuller Theological Seminary and just completed six months serving in missions abroad.

Pam has two amazing children, married to two precious in-laws, and five sweet grandchildren. Pam is a gifted connector and communicator and the Northwest has the perfect climate for staying inside and writing – or baking! She has been writing since a wee one and is currently converting many years of blogging, by topic, into ten books. The first is a collection from 2011 titled, Beautiful Enough. The second is a yearly day-timer titled, Weekly Planner - Lessons in Life, Glory, and Grace. Number three is in progress with the working title, Christmas Today.

Ten facts about Pam in no particular order:

  1. On the team that developed an insulation for the Alaskan oil pipeline.
  2. Loves looking at homes, decorating, and has flipped five homes.
  3. Likes being tall.
  4. Films have helped define her vocabulary.
  5. Comes from Colorado tenement farmers with history traced to Wales.
  6. Was lost but now is found.
  7. Baking makes her happy – as does eating sweets with coffee, of course.
  8. She thinks mission work is the most important work in the world.
  9. The church started in Rome so she is learning Italian.
  10. Pam is a work in progress!

“I will be your God throughout your lifetime - until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.” Isaiah 46:4

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