Blue ones, gray ones, and the faded green one I remembered from years ago. We used to joke that his closet was nothing but shirts. He’d say a man who knows what he needs doesn’t need much else.
I sat there with one shirt in my hand for a long time. And then the idea arrived, clear and sudden, like something that had been waiting for me to be ready for it: if Dad couldn’t be at prom, I could bring him.
My aunt didn’t think I was crazy, which I appreciated.
We used to joke that his closet was nothing but shirts.
“I barely know how to sew, Aunt Hilda,” I said.
“I know. I’ll teach you.”
We spread Dad’s shirts across the kitchen table that weekend with her old sewing kit between us, and we got to work. It took longer than expected.
I cut the fabric wrong twice and had to unstitch an entire section late one night and start over. Aunt Hilda stayed beside me and didn’t say a discouraging word. She just guided my hands and told me when to slow down.
My aunt stayed beside me and didn’t say a discouraging word.
Some nights, I cried quietly while I worked. Other nights, I talked to Dad out loud.
My aunt either didn’t hear or decided not to mention it.
Every piece I cut carried something. The shirt Dad wore on my first day of high school, standing at our front door and telling me I was going to be great, even though I was terrified.
