The mystery maxicoat

Today, continuing my convalescence, I ventured out of the house in the afternoon to go to Mass with my mom at Our Lady Help of Christians. Before I went out I bundled myself up like Charlie Brown getting dressed up to ice skate.

As I was trying to figure out what to wear I inventoried my winter coats. And there was a coat I could not remember ever seeing before.

This is actually a normal experience for me. I like to buy old things and very often I forget what I have. I took the coat out of the closet and tried it on and looked at it. It is a long black coat, cinched with a belt at the waist, with a Bloomingdale's label. It read "Bloomingdale's, Sixties East." Like the label pictured above! Only this coat is black.

A label farther down reads "Jonny Herbert Original." I liked this coat! It would sort of make people stare if I wore it to Our Lady Help of Christians. But it would be nice for an evening occasion.

The real payoff came when I looked in the pockets.

In the right pocket was a chapstick I recognized as having been a present from my sister and my nieces, Rosie and Millie. They made these wonderful chapsticks a few years ago. Ah, so I had worn the coat before! And now I had a chapstick which was nice.

The left-hand pocket was a stranger story.

There were two little vials of some kind of, I believe it is contact lens solution. Ancient contact lens solution! Some of it is still in there. The one bottle, the label is worn off. The other is labeled NeoDecadron and it expired in 1978. Over 30 years ago!

That does not leave the pocket. That stays!

I must have made that decision a few years ago, or whenever it was I wore the coat. Because here the vials are, still here.

And I mentioned the payoff. This is what it was:

Along with the two vials I found $40!

Nice!!!

Was that God rewarding me for getting up to go to Mass or what? I celebrated by blowing a portion of the proceeds on eBay for an autographed Leonard Pennario concert program. It is not as if I do not have any Pennario autographs but I liked the classic look of this program and it was one I did not have. In classic red and black it reads: "Columbia Artists Present PENNARIO." Just his last name. No "Leonard." I love that.

Leaving the house today to go to church paid off!