Old Favorite
Old Favorite
A friend passed away and, like often happens, you realize how much they meant to you only after they’re gone. This friend was like a guy friend but he wasn't human.
I bought the jacket years ago at the Agway store, on sale. I remember the first stain, the first spot of paint, the first hole. The jacket never felt better on me than the last day we were together. Never more a part of me, broken in, softened to touch, like an outer skin it was. Diesel spills had helped insulate it, sawdust forced the color out, and my cuffs were worn away, having entered my pockets time and time again. The sheepskin lining was still intact, though, and on chilly mornings it comforted me and helped me get down to work. We were a pair.
One time I was on my cell in the backyard when a Downy woodpecker came down and landed just above my stomach. There was a withering hole there with white fiber protruding—nesting material, no doubt, destined to comfort little ones. The woodpecker stayed for what seemed a very long time as I watched her gather the cushioning material neatly in her beak. That jacket, that day, had suited me like a tree and helped welcome me into nature.
We were together forever, but forever never lasts. And, as if it were an old pet, there comes a time when the bad days are outnumbered by the good. We deal with a decision again and again, until it is clear. The time had come. One chilly morning we collected all the old trash around the place and filled the back of the truck to above the cab. Old metal gates and parts, used shingles from a roof repair, and boxes and boxes of worthless accumulations were packed like a puzzle into the huge rectangle. The town offers a "we'll take it all for a donation" drop off on Green Up Day each year and we manage to contribute.
The jacket's zipper no longer worked and the collar now failed to wrap around my ears. Together we were to close a long chapter, not lacking from love. As the trash truck's operator pulled down on his handle to compact my things, I pulled off my old friend and slipped him delicately in before the door closed. Goodbye, old favorite, good bye.
It wasn't long before I started a new search. I made calls, I went to all the stores. I even offered to buy a used one from a friend. Soon I realized how things never stay the same. Today I have a new friend and we're making the best of it, together and trying almost every day.