MY COAT WITH MANY COLOURS
The world is an amazing, fascinating place and I believe that we are all connected on levels we are not always aware of.
One of our modern-day icons, Ingrid Jones, has started her own label “My Current Obsession”. The first range she produced, is a collection of fifty coats. Each one is made from a different piece of material to be a personal piece of art and expression of the woman who owns it. The style is flattering to all women’s bodies.
Ingrid posted a picture on Facebook of five coats hanging on a rail. The one coat immediately caught my attention; it had colourful pencils on a white background. I could not see the full coat in the picture, but something about it spoke to me. I messaged Ingrid to inquire if the coat was still available. Great was my joy to hear that it was, and I collected it from her this past Sunday.
Ever since I had a glimpse of the coat, I was wondering why I was so drawn to it. The most obvious reason was that as a teacher, pencil crayons were part and parcel of my toolbox. To me it also represents the many colourful moments of my teaching career. My aim always was to create a happy, colourful classroom, and the last one had a rainbow theme.
Ingrid gave me the most gracious compliment, saying that to her, I am the ‘quintessential teacher’. Loretta, my sis-in-law, agreed and recalled an incident when we went to the movies a few years ago. She remembered that one of my learners, on seeing me there, ran up to me shouting “Teacher, teacher!” and came in for a hug. The love of a child is a precious gift and you receive much more than you give.
Two weeks ago, my husband started to scan a bunch of old family pictures that was sitting in a box in the garage. Among it was a black and white picture of five-year old me. I remember the outfit I was wearing vividly: A royal blue skirt with fine pleats and a blouse my mom made for me on her Singer. Unfortunately, the pattern on the material cannot be seen in the picture, but it had beautiful sorbet-coloured stripes on a white background. Subconsciously I must have recognised my pencil-coat as similar to my blouse when I was only five.
Then I remembered something else. My sister Valerie gifted me a creative journal Bible along with pencil crayons and coloured pens. I spend at least once a week making notes and colouring in the beautiful drawings in the Bible. It is such a soothing and therapeutic activity for me. It also connects us on some level as she is doing the same, meditating while colouring in and making notes in her Bible.
My usual “uniform” is a bottom, top and a “third piece”. This coat can be worn through most seasons, and it fits right in to be a third piece for all my basic combinations. In summer I prefer to wear dresses and I can dress up any plain coloured dress with my happy coat.
This coat represents how we should feel about our clothes; in Marie Condo’s words, it should “spark joy”. So maybe we could be more discerning when choosing the clothes we wear. After all, it presents us to the world and has an influence on our mood.
May your clothes spark joy till we chat again.
Shirley Rose