Coats of Winter

 I stomped my shoes in the snow to warm my feet as I waited for the city bus, which always ran late. My coat, a hand-me-down I picked up at the Goodwill store, barely kept the cold air off my skin, and I think I shivered for three months out of the year. 

I worked the midnight shift, which allowed me to spend some time with the kids before school and when they got home. My oldest shared that coat I wore, and the boy got a hand-me-down from a neighbor that didn't fit very well, but it beat freezing. 

I couldn't sleep well when the sun was shining; heck, I didn't sleep well anytime. I wanted more for my kids, more than I had, but I didn't have answers for that, and it kept me awake most days.

We barely got by, but we were happy or pretended we were. I would tell my kids that we were lucky because the streets were filled with those who had even less than we did. 

I remember waking up one day to the song of a Robin, and I smiled, wiping the sandman away. Spring had finally arrived, and the hand-me-down coats of winter hung on hooks until the cold winds blew again.

Mike 2024