Errol's Quilt

Errol’s quilt, made from his clothes by our dear friend Stephanie, sits on the back of our sofa by day, and covers Owen by night.

Red and white plaid frames the quilt, and within the border are Errol’s black jeans handed down from his brother and now handed back down to us. I remember putting Errol on his tummy on a soft blanket, and folding his legs in these black jeans, up under him, hoping he would use his body, bent into the start of a crawl, to push his trunk forward. I hoped that would lead to crawling, then walking, then running. Of course, Errol had his own idea, and he just laughed and rolled over and then I tickled him.

There is a swatch of Errol’s blue denim jeans and their little man pockets that made him look like a little farmer.

There is the light blue plaid shirt that Errol’s mother especially liked and that I would dress him in on special occasions.

There is a blue and white plaid long-sleeved shirt that we put Errol in to go horseback riding.

There are the striped jean corduroy overalls that made Errol look like a train conductor. I have a picture of Errol in these pants with his train conductor hat, smiling for all the world. All aboard!

It is the little pockets adorning the quilt that get me - so empty.

The quilt is more than just Errol’s clothes; it brims with his smiles, and love, and joy.

Then there is the Joan Miro back of the quilt: riotous color and joyous patterns filling the canvas with broad stripes of red, blue, and green from Errol’s plush pajamas. It is what I imagine the flag of a country ruled by happy children would look like. There are the pjs with the stegosaurus and triceratops gleefully riding baseballs and footballs through outer space, enjoying impossible, happy dreams! There are Errol’s red velvety pjs that looked like a smoking jacket and made him look like a little playboy. And there are Errol’s sporty pjs that say GOAL above the upright, soccer playing alligator - uh oh! Errol wore these pajamas with his orange glasses that Sunday before his last surgery.

These are the clothes we put Errol to bed in, as we kissed him good night and wondered what he would dream of and how long we would be able to hold him.

Good night, sleep tight, wake up bright in the morning light.