out with the old

I inaugurated a new winter coat this week, which I was forced to buy when the zipper on my coat of 11.5 years finally failed me. Pictured is my well-worn and faithful (until last Saturday) protection from the wintry elements:

Now, I know what you're thinking. "An old coat? Who gives a flip? What a dopey, inconsequential blog post. I'm never coming here again." And you're mostly right. But I got to thinking of all the things that have happened to me while this coat was in my possession. I struck out on my own, met Nate, got married, had 4 kids. Also, some really important things happened to me, like when I ate my first Big Mac and endured my first ingrown toenail. All under the watch of this old corduroy coat.