After I gave birth I quickly became disenchanted with 99% of the clothes I owned, and so opted to do a giant closet purge where I pared down my wardrobe to the bare minimum.

For the most part, this was actually really easy. I’m not one to get overly attached to things, especially clothes, so getting rid of everything felt sort of freeing in a way. (And frankly, it was nice not having to dig through piles of things that didn’t fit anymore to get to the three shirts I could nurse in that did fit.)

I did have a hard time parting with most of my coats, though. I have an affinity for outerwear (I suppose it’s partly due to my SPF-100 skin that’s always hoping for gray and rainy weather), and I’ve amassed a nice collection of jackets over the years. I also (wrongly) assumed that my coats would still fit me, even though I’d had a baby. (I mean, my shoulders didn’t change during pregnancy, did they? Yes, apparently they did.)

Since I didn’t get rid of most of my coats when I did my big closet purge, I now have a lovely row of coats in my closet… most of which don’t fit. And the fact that some may never fit again is ok, but there is one coat in particular that I can’t really imagine parting with.I bought this coat at Banana Republic back in the winter of 2009. I had no money at the time because I’d just finished law school and taken the BAR exam.  I was jobless and the economy was in the toilet, but I had just found out that I’d actually passed the BAR, and so decided to treat myself to this coat. At the time, this coat was some ungodly amount of money in my eyes (I think it was $125 on sale). And so even though I was broker than broke, I decided to celebrate my hard work and treat myself to this one “luxury item.”

And this coat has served me well over the years. It’s not one that I bought one season and didn’t wear much after that. I’ve worn this coat. I’ve worn this coat all across Europe on two separate occasions.

I wore it on our honeymoon, on our babymoon, and countless places in between.

So even though it’s now over 6 years old and ohsotight at the moment, this coat won’t be going anywhere. Even if it never fits again, I think it’s going to be hanging in my closet for a long while. Because even though it’s just a coat, I love thinking about all the memories I’ve built wearing it, and how it represents my own recognition of how hard I worked during law school and the BAR (something which I tend to struggle with a little — the recognition, not the work.)

But really, with this whole healthy eating kick I’m on right now, that thing will fit in no time, right? Totally. 😉