I Never Imagined This Time Would Come

My first husband had this jacket when we met in 1988...



He thought that to wear it was the coolest thing ever, whether he was chopping wood on a camping trip, tinkering under his truck, or enjoying an evening sunset...





He wore it from the time we met until he died, six children and 16 years later. To him, it never went out of style, although to me, it certainly did.

When he died, I placed all of his clothing in large plastic bins, unsure of what else to do. To give them away at that time felt like I was giving part of him away. It felt like I was giving part of our children's memories away. I thought that perhaps the then 12-year-old boy might want to wear them one day, as a way of connecting with his lost father, so I kept them.

Then the 12-year-old boy grew up. He passed his father's stature of 5'10" when he was 14 years old and now, at 17, stands over 6'1". I realized three years ago that he would never fit into his father's clothing even if he had wanted to, and that, even if he could, his father's clothing would certainly be out of style. So after three years of hauling those plastic bins of his clothing through four moves, I finally gave them to a young man we had hired to help build our home who was roughly my husband's size. I think he appreciated it. I hope he did.

But apparently I didn't give away everything. And what I never would have imagined was that the then 8-year-old boy would one day grow up into a young man of 13 years....and find....and want to wear every chance he could....his father's favorite jacket.









(Yes, 13-year-old boy, the photo shoot is over. Thank you for your time. :) )