HE WAS NO clothes horse, but my hus-
band’s story is in what he wore.
I’m writing this after 18 months of
living without the man I had known
for more than 50 years and it still feels
surreal. Rob died of cancer in 2018.
Our lives together created many mem-
ories—rich experiences, gladly shared—
and I know they are what will help
sustain me. Still, when our two sons
and their wives presented me with a
surprise memento of their father, I was
quite literally speechless.
After his death, we went through
closets and drawers—that is what we
do when we don’t know what to do.
One of his passions was mountain
biking. He was highly skilled, winning
races up to the provincial level. There
were lots of colourful cycling jerseys.
On the other hand, many of his every-
day shirts were common checks and
plaids, and almost all were relics. Our
sons each took several items; probably
not to wear, but something familiar of
their dad’s to keep. Those tasks kept us
busy—and close—in the first days of
our new reality.
Some weeks passed. A little girl
became my first grandchild, and two
sweet grandsons arrived a few months
later. Those new families grappled
bravely with all the highs and lows of
first-time parenthood while nursing
a wound that could never fully heal.
During this time a concept evolved
through the collaboration of my chil-
dren and a talented family member: to
artfully arrange pieces of Rob’s clothing
into a four-by-five-foot quilt, although
that hardly seems an adequate term
for what was created.On one side, the colour and vibrancy
of travel and cycling experiences are
combined in stunning patterns, blend-
ing memorable events and locations.
The cycling jerseys predominate but
there is more. In recent years, Rob
rekindled a love of sailboarding. A shirt
from the Outer Banks recalls one sail-
boarding trip to North Carolina. Else-
where in the quilt, the logo of the
Lunenburg Foundry reminds me of
cycling from our home in Kingston,
Ont., to Nova Scotia for a family reunion
in 2015. The Poison Spider BicyclesTHE FINAL RESULT
EVOKES A LIFE
THROUGH SWATCHES
OF SHIRTS AND ONE
BATHING SUIT.reader’s digestrd.ca 47