A Pocket Full of Memories

Today I put on a coat that I hadn’t worn in awhile. Since January.  Thursday, January 13^th to be exact. How do I know this? The contents in the pockets.

Have you ever put on a coat or a jacket that you haven’t worn in quite awhile and discovered forgotten treasures in the pockets? Money maybe, a receipt from the dry cleaners, a candy from that restaurant you went to on your birthday.

The contents forgotten in a pocket often bring back sharp memories of how they got there. Take for example the items in my coat pocket.  A favorite hair clip that I had decided was gone forever. Did I remember that I had put it in my pocket back then? No. But today when I found it I remember clear as day that I wore it to the opera. Lucia di Lammermoor to be exact.

A lip balm. I’m always losing lip balms. And eventually, as is the case with today’s discovery . . . I find them again.

But the most poignant treasure was a little slip of paper with a name, a location time, and a number.  “So-and-so – Starbuck’s – 5:30 – 555-555-1234”. Written hastily in red and torn off a notepad.  And for a moment a hundred memories came rushing back. And it made me smile a little to myself.  The journey I have taken since that little piece of paper. The lessons I had to learn, what the heartache needed to teach me; the stronger person I am today.  Ah, if only I had known then what I know now.

I put the note back in the pocket. I may need to remind myself again one day.