As I was making Christmas Sock monkeys (on a Saturday night after most of a bottle of wine) I got to thinking that if the socks had meaning the monkey would be more than just a decoration. My mind went on a bit of a spiral and I ended up thinking about the family from my son’s class that lost their dad & husband. The father was a member of the Canadian military and died on leave on the way home to see his family.

Before I sound like a complete nutter, we see this family everywhere, our kids are the same age, they go to school together, our youngest go to a play group together and our kids have swimming lessons together. So in the school yard bright and early Monday morning I approached the mom.  I told her that I was thinking about them on the weekend and I explained my idea about turning her late husbands socks into sock monkeys for her kids.  It was a slightly awkward conversation  because I was asking for her late husbands socks and I have no idea how that conversation can be anything but awkward, but she brought me the socks a couple of days later.

When I started working on the sock monkeys I was in tears because one of the socks had pink paint on the toe and heel which I later confirmed came from painting their daughter’s room.  As I worked on these monkeys I thought about my own family and how I can’t imagine the pain of this family and the strength of the mom. It’s my hope that these monkeys bring them comfort. I know that she was going to save them and give them to the kids for Christmas which made me very happy.

In addition to my own Grandfather who we affectionately called Poppy, I will be thinking about this family and all of the others that serve and have served our country on Remembrance Day.