Coats

My sister and her husband moved to Canada from London, UK where winters are mild compared to winters here in Ontario. In London, all you need is a good windbreaker, hat and gloves.

This is a story about the fashion sense in winter in Canada. In their second year in Canada, my brother-in-law bought two Snow Goose winter jackets. Blue for him and red for my sister. Now he thought, they could laugh in the face of winter, and they were ready to test it with an expedition style jacket.

The day those two jackets arrived, my two sisters (you see how the family grows) were watching TV. When my sister Olga tried her new jacket on, the show began. My two sisters named it a Big Red Box. They didn't like it a bit. They attacked poor Milan's, my brother-in-law, taste, but my brother-in-law didn't think it was funny. By now, nobody thinks it was funny. 

In the years between 1996-2017, Big Red Box changed hands 6 times!  First Olga, and then Mima, after that it went to Mima's boyfriend, from him to me, from me to my husband, and finally my cousin. It went with us everywhere. The University of Toronto, George Brown College, High Park walks, Woodstock, Heber Down Winter Barbecue, Woodstock, concerts, and ice skating. You name it; it was there.  It kept us warm when others were shivering and complaining about wind, cold and rain. We no longer cared if we looked funny, we grew to love it.

Its red colour has faded out a little bit. The artificial fur lining looks as ratty as an old teddy bear and the cuffs lost their elasticity. Two buttons fell off, but were caught and sewn back on. Olga complained that she couldn't hear anything when she had BRB's hood on. With BRB we didn't need any gloves or a hat. 

What happened to a Big Blue Box? My brother-in-law still has it. To this day. He can't and won't part with it. He says it is now part of our family’s Canadian history and we will keep it forever!