The Little Black Coat

While much of the U.S. is suffering blizzard conditions, our thoughts turn toward keeping warm.  Though many of you would trade weather-places with me in a heartbeat, it's still a windy, chilly 43 degrees here at The 409.  I just walked to the mailbox in my jammies, and it was quite nippy.

I hate to wear coats.  For 25 years I have had the same tweed, just-below-the-hips, double-breasted coat that my former husband gave me.  The style has come in and out of fashion a few times, but I still wore it.  It's still in great condition too, save for the layer of dust on the heavily-padded shoulders.  It has hung in my laundry room since I moved here 5 1/2 years ago.  I've had a few light jackets along the way, but for the most part, if I'm just darting about town, I choose to just suffer the few minutes of cold, rather than have to fuss with taking off and keeping up with a coat while I'm doing whatever it was that took me out of my warm house to start with.

This past fall, though, I got a wild hair and decided that I Needed A New Coat.  I shopped around until I finally found one that I liked very much, and I got it on sale at an unbelievable price! It is nice enough to wear over dress clothes, but not too nice to wear every day.  I also found a sweat-shirt type jacket with the most wonderfully soft lining at Old Navy, also at a great price.  This is my go-to jacket when dashing out the door on those sub-zero-degree (Georgia.. haha) days.  I've never even taken the tags off of the other coat.  I considered taking it back, but when I remember what a good buy I got on it, I just can't seem to make myself return it.  What with all this cold weather (as a result of global warming HA!) who knows when I might actually decide to wear it.  Surely as soon as I return it, I'll be wishing I had it.  So, the New Coat will continue to hang in my closet, taking up space, until such time as I need it.

When my daughter was in high school, she found a beautiful black leather jacket that she couldn't possibly live without.  She traded me all of the gift-cards that she received the previous Christmas, in exchange for my buying the Little Black Coat for her.  I loved it, and wanted one too, but couldn't afford to buy two.  She needed an XL and I needed a 3X.  She came home with a Little Black Coat... but I did not.  Her coat was so tight on me that if I tried to stick my arms in the sleeves, I couldn't move them.  So I just continued wearing my tattered old tweed coat, when I absolutely HAD to wear one.

I think she may have worn The Little Black Coat three, maybe four times.  Grrr.  Teenagers are fickle like that, aren't they?  Over the years, I have come across TLBC hanging in her closet, my closet, and most recently the grandbaby's closet. 

Guess who has The Little Black Coat now?  If you guessed me, you're absolutely right.  My arms/shoulders will move about freely inside the sleeves now, and I could even reach out my arms and give you a hug, should you happen to need/want one.

The zipper is still a little problematic.  The left side of the zipper lacks about 2" from being able to interlock with the right side of the zipper.  But, hey... that's PROGRESS!!  When I bought TLBC, the zippers were probably 10-12" apart.  I've come a long way, baby!

TLBC is hanging in a very prominent position in my room (ummm... on the handle of my much-neglected treadmill...) as a reminder to get back on course, stay the course, and make that zipper zip!  It may be springtime, or long after coat-weather is behind us before I can make that sucker zip, but zip it I will!  And then I will be the proud owner of my very own personal Little Black Coat. Yay!