We haven’t met yet – but as we speak you are far away across the country, wrapped in a symbol of my tremendous affection for your wee self – your baby blanket. I know you’re very, very young and quite new around here and you don’t know much about knitting, but but let me tell you a thing or two about having a baby blanket. They take a long time to make. Many, many hours, days and weeks go into making a knitted thing for someone, and that means that whomsoever made the knitted thing for you thought of you for all of those hours and days and weeks, and thought that you were deserving of having that much of their life and time dedicated to you. You’re that important, wee Jack.
In your case, I also think particularly well of your Mum and Dad. Me and Joe (you’ll learn about him later, he’s very fun and loyal and rather hairy, sort of like a very big, very clever dog- You’ll learn about dogs later too) met your parents when they’d only recently come to Canada, and they were so young and nice and their own parents were far away, so we took an interest. We know we weren’t going to be a huge help because Joe and Lucy (you might have heard those names, that’s what we call your mummy and daddy) were still quite far from us too. We were at least in the same country though, and we thought that might be something. Turns out that really you’ve lucked out in the parent department, and they’ve got on perfectly. We drove across the country for their wedding and gosh, what a day. I know you probably have other things on your mind, but know that if you grow up to be as kind, funny, loving and constant as your father, you’ll do just fine – and if you turn out like your loving, thoughtful, sincere and charming mother that wouldn’t be a crime either. They are just the best sort of people -Anyway, on to the blanket, eh tot?
I have made many baby blankets Jack, and each and every one of them is unique. I think long and hard about how you got to be here, the things I think will represent your special story and things that will (when you are bigger, I understand that symbolism is lost on most people who are only days old) help you build a sense of the family you were born into, and the person you will become.
I start with the centre Jack, and yours is a field of leaves – meant to invoke the out-of-doors your parents love to be in, no matter where they roam in the world. Everywhere they are- in Norfolk or Banff, Queensland or Ontario, all places of the world I know they will share with you as you get bigger, a canopy of trees is overhead, gardens grow nearby and the smell of green and growing things drifts over your family. I know it’s coming to the end of a long Canadian winter and that’s all you’ve known, my wee beast – but the sweet and brief summer is coming, and you’ll love leaves when you meet them. These leaves also are a nod to your growing family tree – the branch that your parents have started, and the new leaf that is you.
Around that field of leaves is a tiny border of bitty hearts – for the month of February you were born in, and because even before you were born Jack, you had become the centre of your parents hearts – their dearest little love.
Sweet bairn, around that is a border of an old English pattern called Rose Trellis. See the roses climbing on the diamonds? This pattern is meant to invoke an English garden, and to remind you of your grandmothers. I am a grandmother, and I am here to tell you that their love is something you can count on now and every day that they live. There is an Italian proverb that says “If nothing is going well, call your grandmother” and Jack, this is great advice. I’ve met both your Grandmothers and I can tell you this: Not a day will go by that they will not wish to have you with them, and not a day that either of them would be willing to cross the sea if you asked them to. Distance is nothing to a grandmothers heart, and having a little grandson myself, I don’t think it’s much to a grandkid either. Your grandparents are going to be your strongest supporters and your biggest fans and you can count on them. I know that they feel so lucky that you have been born.
Beyond the very English garden looms the very Canadian Rocky Mountains. You are a first generation Canadian Jack, the child of immigrants and now a native citizen of the most beautiful country in the world (at least most Canadians think so) and you’ll grow up with those very mountains looking on you every day. We met your mum and dad because of those mountains, They live here because of them, and they were wed on the side of a mountain with the glorious range all around. Your parents are at home here – amongst the bears and the glaciers, the snow and the wildflowers, the striking blue lakes, the shimmering rivers and the spectacular peaks and trees. I am quite sure there will be some considerable debate about if you will be a skier or a snowboarder Jack, but Joe and I have already decided to stay out if it. Your orientation won’t matter to us at all and we can love you no matter who you are or what you love. I can’t wait to see you grow the same sense of belonging for the great wild places of this country – just as your folks and many aunties and uncles have. You live in a remarkable, beautiful place, and it is the sort of place that shapes people.
The border of your blanket- the part that goes all around the outside, is made up of waves. Great cresting waves, to symbolize how much of who you are and were you come from is reflected by your relationship with water. It goes without saying that your parents have a wonderful connection to the water around where you live – if your mum hasn’t already thought about when she can get you in a canoe I’d be surprised, and already you’ve met a great deal of water- albeit rather frozen. These waves are for the water near where you live, that your parents love to be in and on, they are for the water they crossed to come to Canada and the waves are to remind you that this is all that separates you from your English family – who live across the pond and many, many waves. For the English seaside you’ll visit, for the beaches and oceans you’ll see – and finally, for the water you came from yourself, born on a wave, already shepherded by your strong and lovely mum.
All of this together in one knitted thing is all that I hope for you wee Jack. The strength of mountains, the constancy of lapping waves. The sweet green leaves of the world all around you, and the enduring help of a family, as beautiful as roses and your own garden. This blanket is soft and it is big enough that you will fit under it your whole life, and I hope it’s a long-serving reminder of all the gifts and strengths you were born with.
You are a most welcome, hoped for and loved child, welcome, welcome, welcome.
Love,
Stephanie
