Friday, April 29, 2011

Sentimental

A young gentleman of 93 years walked into our shop this week ...and we were all enchanted.

His wife, Helen, had passed away 6 years ago and he was in need of some new gloves. She had designed and knit them specially for him to protect his hands from the sun because he has been battling skin cancer since 1978. The gloves cover the backs of his hands but leave the palms and fingers bare. What a great design - they feel wonderful while working with your hands.

Andy (remember that he is 93) rides a bike at the velodrome in London every week. An avid golfer, he also cleans up used top quality golf balls to sell for $5.00 a bag - all proceeds go to the clinic where he is treated. If you'd like to support this cause ...or need some golf balls, we'd love to put you in touch with Andy.

The more I talk to Andy, the more connections I discover: both he and my Dad were career Air Force (RCAF) and were stationed in many of the same places, but always at different times. Andy worked in maintenance and my Dad was a sheet metal worker. 5 years apart in age, they were both sent to this area from Toronto. Both were of Scottish heritage: my Dad from Edinburgh and Andy's family from just north in Dunedin. And this morning, I realized why his last name was so familiar to me - it is the same as my great-grandmother's. Hey! Maybe we are related!
Andy will definitely have his new gloves next week.

4 comments:

  1. And some things are just meant to be...

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  2. My own Velodrome "connection" tells me that you can see Andy @ the Velodrome on Wednesday afternoons, 3 p.m., at Jock's "Huff and Puff" session. Joan - you'll have to post a photo of the new gloves!

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  3. Oh that's the best story I've heard today. So kind of you to knit them for him.

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