thank you for your service rei elements e1 rain jacket blue. you have sheltered me from storms and cold for more than fifteen years. long enough that, when i told her, my daughter couldn't remember a time without you. all-present enough that some part of her believed i might have carried you always. before time. in those years , you traveled more than a hundred thousand miles in planes, trains, cars, on ferries, and on foot. once, you rode packed away in the trunk of an armored limousine. together, on another long, cold, wet ramble, we saw all fourteen dragons in a single day. many times, i rewaxed and resealed you, giving you back your power when it had waned. now though, you are crumbling at a cellular level, your inner shell peeling and shedding in dead flakes. there are no more mends to make. you were such a part of my journey into the world, i can't believe you're gone. you will be missed
