The Dream Coat
She walked past the shop window everyday, then one day she noticed a beautiful winter coat in the window. She stopped and looked at it, it was perfect, just what she was looking for, that was the one she wanted. Everyday for the next 3 weeks she stopped and looked at the coat, she could just feel how snugly it would fit her, how soft the fur collar would feel against her cheek, how the colour of the coat would suit her complexion just perfectly. She sometimes thought she heard the coat calling to her and lingered outside the window just a moment longer to see if the coat would suddenly jump towards her.
Finally pay day arrived, she rushed down to the shop, all excited because she had found her perfect coat. She braced herself, all the dreams she had about the coat were about to come true, the perfect fit, the feel of warmness, the colour.
The shop assistant handed her the coat, it felt so much heavier than she had imagined, she put it on, it was tight across the shoulders, the fur collar wasn’t as soft as she thought it would be, but never mind she could live with that, she twirled round in her coat it felt wonderful. She stood in front of the mirror, how she wished she had put a little more makeup on, maybe she was starting to get a cold, she looked a little pale. She bent down to pick up her bag when she felt the tightness across her shoulders and she had to hunch up to reach her arm out towards her bag. She knew the dream was wonderful but the reality was the coat simply wasn’t the right one. Disappointed she put the coat back and left the shop.
Now it was getting colder, Autumn really was setting in and the jacket she wore no longer kept her warm, she had to get a coat.
She walked into a department store, nothing she saw was good enough, every single coat she looked at just wasn’t 100% perfect, not what she was looking for.
A few weeks later she was starting to dread going outside because it was so cold and her jacket really was inadequate. She went once again to the department store and looked around, she saw a coat it wasn’t quite perfect, the colour was a shade lighter than she wanted and the pockets weren’t quite right. She tried it on, the sleeves were a little long but she could tuck them under. It fitted her snugly, it was warm, she could move around in it without it tugging at the seams. She put aside any feelings she had that it wasn’t the coat of her dreams or as expensive as her dream coat and therefore not as good.
Now 3 years later she looks forward to winter coming so she can get her coat out of her cupboard and feel it’s loving warmth wrap around her when she puts it on. What started off as second best in her eyes rapidly became the best in the world.
Sometimes our dreams are just not right for us and we need to let go of them to allow something better.