Can't let go

I love Texas, but after 18 years I needed to get out. Next thing I know I am standing in an Eddie Bauer store in Syracuse, New York with my dad and brother looking for a coat to help me through my first Northern winter. With little thought to fashion, my brother helped me pick out a mens down coat. I lovingly refer to it as my Marshmellowman coat. It's dark red on the outside and navy on the inside with lots of helpful pockets. In fact, while at Syracuse University, I often saw several guys wearing my jacket.
It was a good jacket, and in fact still is...11 years later. But for awhile now, actually from the beginning, I haven't been fond of how the jacket looks. There's nothing about it that cries "funky" or "feminine" just "warmth"-- which "hey" in a bad New York or Chicago winter isn't a bad thing.
But now that I'm 33, I'd like something that fits my station in life. And since the coat is still in good condition, even after literally traveling the world with me when I studied abroad, I thought I would donate it to the Celebration Clinic that is looking for good winter coats every year. However for three years running, I have taken out that winter coat, looked at it, decided I still can't stand the way it looks, but thought to myself "it still works" and couldn't justify getting rid of it. I know when you donate something it needs to be in good condition so I didn't want to hold onto the jacket until it became a rag-- but I couldn't do it. Last year I even got so far as bringing the coat to work and keeping it in my office for several weeks, meaning to take it down to Celebration. But all I ended up doing was taking it home. Maybe it's because now I'm a mamma, and I feel like I have entered a new phase in my life. I decided I could give up the coat in good condition-- and let go of those college memories and European travel memories and step into something new-- and even spend money doing it! I tell you though, as I laid that coat gently in the bin outside the back door at Celebration, without hesitation I had a sending ceremony for it. And I said a blessing that it might be a good warm coat for someone who needs it.
Silly how hard it was to let it go, even when I never really liked it. And surprising I couldn't do it without a blessing. And that was just a coat!