The pocket reminder

I can’t say that boredom has finally gotten to me, that the stay-at-home of Covid-19 has had me roaming the house looking for Things To Do, but I have cleaned out the coat closet. My impetus was more the fact that I couldn’t easily hang my winter coat: it kept falling off the end of the rack since the pole doesn’t run the length of the closet. 

And so, I decided to see what we had pushed to the back. Oh, my. 

For starters, in my closets, as I’m sure in yours, those items neglected and pushed to the back tend to shrink. Years being alone, untouched, unworn, makes them turn inward, shrink. In other words, some things, through no fault of their own, no longer fit. There were a couple of those. 

There were the specialty coats, those bought for a ski or camping trip, worn for a season or two, and then we didn’t go skiing or camping and they got pushed to the back. Some still fit. Some were saved. 

There was the letter jacket left behind by a son; we will happily deliver when we can come face to face again. Does he miss it? Does he even want it? Does he remember it exists? The latter will depend on whether or not he reads this blog. Chances are, it will be a surprise.

All in all, we were able to reduce the number of usable items in the closet by 1/3 to 1/2. I have put aside the ones no longer needed by our household and they will go to the local clothes closet when it reopens. 

But there was one item I had totally forgotten about, a dusky green all-weather Lands End coat. Where did this come from? It still–wonderfully–fit! It must be mine. How could I have forgotten about it? In trying it on, I reflexively searched the pockets and found a movie theater ticket stub from 2005. Perhaps not the last time I wore this coat, because it was dated in January and the weather would have decreed the coat still in need for two more months, but I hadn’t cleaned out the pocket.

And that’s the crux of this blog: leave something in your pocket! I have a tendency to clean out all my pockets when the coat is worn for the last time of the season. No one wants dirty tissues from the previous year and money, while it’s smile-worthy to find that wayward dollar the next  season, you might as well use now. But a ticket stub? That was a fun and informative thing to find. 

So, leave yourself a reminder and don’t push those coats to the back of the closet just yet.