Warm Coat, Light Coat, Rain Coat, Yikes!

A friend wrote on Facebook recently that she was busy sorting coats for her large family –

“I felt a bit overwhelmed today. Today was “coat sorting day”. A warm coat for church, a warm coat for farm chores, a warm coat for town, don’t forget a lightweight coat for the days that it goes back up to 60…”

I can totally relate.

This is one of those rural realities that you just have to live with.

Everybody needs a warm coat to wear around the farm – one that they can do chores in, go sledding in and get muddy on four-wheeler rides.

But they also need a warm coat that stays nice to wear to church and to town.

Ditto for lighter weight coats for spring and fall and rain gear and sweatshirts and fleeces.

You start multiplying my family members and the number of coats per person and you soon see how overwhelming it can be.

And don’t forget the hats, mittens, overalls, boots and shoes – all in multiples.

It’s not just the outer wear! We almost need 2 separate wardrobes – one for going away and one for staying at home.

It is a known fact that whatever clothes are worn outside to do chores will get dirty, stained, ripped and otherwise made unfit for public wear. That’s why we set aside some clothes just for that purpose.

Trust me, the chickens and cows don’t care.

But we have other clothes that are saved just for going away where people will actually see us.

Although it never fails that the one day you don’t wash your hair, have on your worst looking jeans and the t-shirt with stains – will be the one day that you need to run to town to buy a bolt and pick up baler wire.

Never fails.

I get a chuckle every time I see a magazine article describing how to simply your wardrobe. Ha! What I need is some hints on how to practically store the gazillion coats, hats, mittens, boots, and shoes that are piled in my mud room.

But then – as my friend said –

“..multiply that times 12 and you get 48 coats in our closet. That is nuts- but thank you Lord for all 48 coats.”

So true! Thank you for Lord for each and every coat – and the healthy bodies to wear them!