Whoa, Aaay

This worn leather coat is now retired, hanging in my closet. Sadly it no longer fits, rather I no longer fit in it, its not the coats fault. The last person to wear it was my grandson who recently wore it, along with a safari hat I have. He had seen the coat in my closet and wanted to dress up like Indian Jones and have me take his picture.

He asked where I got the coat and I told him I used wear it on my adventures with Indiana Jones. His mouth dropped and he said "wow Grampy". I told him I used to have a yellow whip (True), but I lost it in a battle with bad guys. He is six and a half, so I can still have fun with this stuff. To complete the look I gave him a sword to pose with that my Dad brought back from Japan after the war.

Though this coat now looks as if it's been through many adventures and battles, the real story is far less exciting. I started wearing this coat in 1974 as a lark after my girl friend made a remark over one of my "Fonzie" moments. You'll remember "Happy Days" the TV show was new, and many of us adopted Fonzie mannerisms as a joke. That night I remembered there was an old leather jacket in a closet, so I decided to wear it on our next date which was to the beach. On the way I told her we were going there to see the "submarine races". She said "the what?" I said you'll see. Yes we were that silly sometimes. It was the 70's! Thats my defense and I am sticking to it.

The previous owner of the jacket was my Dad. He wore this coat back in the 1950's when he was a cargo handler with Flying Tiger Airlines in Cleveland Ohio. After he graduated to an office job the coat went into the closet until I liberated it some 20 years later. I wore it for quite a few years until it became too fragile to wear on a regular basis. It served Dad well at work during the 1950's , and me during my Happy Days of the 1970's. "Aaay".