After an unfortunate incident on Oct. 27, when my blue, red and yellow wool coat was sold by mistake at the Re-Use-It Centre and returned the next day, I would like to thank store manager Louise Caparella, all her staff, the nice lady who brought back my coat, and all of you, my friends and Facebook friends, who supported me with your lovely comments. I really appreciated all the dedication everyone put into supporting me through this funny misadventure.
Don’t get me wrong: There were no bad intentions on anyone’s part.
Via different Facebook groups that Louise and I used to track down the coat, I was greatly impressed by the kindness of the Whistler and Pemberton communities. I had more than 500 hits and many encouraging comments from people I didn’t even know.
Here is the interesting story of my coat and the reason why I cherish it so much: I found it at a Value Village in Quebec City a few years ago for only a few dollars. Its uniqueness comes from the fact that it was inspired by a Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian, during the era of cubism in the early 20th century. Mondrian used these three primary colors, red, blue and yellow, in his creations at the beginning of the 1940s.
Moreover, it’s the warmest and lightest coat that I ever had in my life because it’s made from 65-per-cent mohair wool.
So, when I lost it, I felt I had lost my favorite childhood blanket. You know what I mean?
In just 24 hours, I went through a variation of emotions, from despair to complete happiness. A crazy story and a very beautiful page in the story of my life.
Despite this happy ending, I would still like to tell you what happened when I came out with my coat the next day. Upon arriving on the Lost Lake dock for a short swim, a man I didn’t know asked me gently if I had bought my coat at the Re-Use-It Centre. I told him it was brought back to the Re-Use-It Centre the day before by the lady to whom it had been sold by mistake. It was nice to share this beautiful story with him that ended well.
Then, when I left the dock, I was stopped at least five times by different groups of people who asked me the same question, while some acquaintances gave me the thumbs-up because they were happy for me.
It was then that I realized that my story attracted a lot of attention and I had become a “famous” person without wanting to. I was very embarrassed by this new situation because I didn’t expect it at all.
Even though I know this coat had already attracted people’s attention before, I am aware now that I won’t go unnoticed whenever I wear it again. But it will be fun, and I will be comfortable and warm. If life brought me this misadventure, there was a reason.
This story proves to me once again that Whistler is a beautiful and kind community—and a nice, big family. I am really grateful and happy that life brought me to Whistler a few years ago. I thank my lucky stars everyday.
And I thank you all again very much.
