What's Penny Wearing? #131 - A Fabulous Warm Coat From My Friend Colleen

A very dear friend of mine named Colleen texted me out of the blue back in October to tell me she had a coat that she wanted to send me.
She lives in Washington state.
We were really good friends in elementary school, and then she moved away. I haven't seen her in over forty years.
I'm happy to say that although we had lost touch over the years, we found each other again (thank you, internet!) a number of years ago.

She sent me this absolutely gorgeous down coat from L.L. Bean.  There's a little bit of a story behind it, but I'm not going to go into it here.
The fact of the matter is, she had this coat (it's in like-new condition), she didn't need it - and she thought of me.
I wasn't even sure it was going to fit me,
but it does.

And I love it.
I love that it's purple, I love that it's long, I love that it's warm.

But mostly I love the fact that this dear old friend, whom I haven't seen in SO many (WAY too many!) years still remembers me as fondly as I do her. Childhood friends - you know? The kind of dear, close friend that you simply never, ever, could forget, because you were so close, because you loved each other that much. Although Washington may not seem that far away to me now, she may as well have moved to another continent at the time. I certainly never got to travel up there to visit her, after she moved. We wrote to each other, we talked on the phone way back when, but then - life - you know, and too many moves and address changes, and we lost touch for a very long time.
 When we spoke on the phone after we had gotten back in touch, I cried, I was just so happy to talk to her again!
Colleen, I know we will see each other again one day, and in the meantime, I have my warm memories of you and now I also have this nice, warm coat to wrap myself in, as well.
Thank you SO much.
You were such a dear to think of me, and I will never forget you.
Not ever.