Taylor Fantin's Profile
Born: April 17, 1984, Guelph Ontario
Education: Bachelor of Commerce, Specializing in Accounting from Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa
Interests: Biking, Golfing, avid hockey fan, food and beverage, playing and listening to music
Aspirations: My short-term goal is to complete the requirements to obtain a Chartered Accountant’s designation that will open many doors in the future. Which door to take is unknown at this time, but I am currently enjoying not knowing what to expect.
Story: I have to admit that when my Grandmother was coming to visit us I always harboured mixed feelings. Not because I did not want to see her, but rather because after four games of cribbage, I was wiped out, and my grandmother would just be warming up. Inevitably she would insist on playing the rubber match for the fifth and deciding game. Being a teenager at the time, I was more interested in partying and made it a personal goal to get out of every game as quickly as possible. What I failed to realize was how important those games of cribbage actually were.
Card games created the bond I had with her. I cannot recall a time when I said I love you to her, nor can I recall many times when she said it to me, but it was understood. It was expressed in our mutual appreciation for each other that was brought out when we played our card games. How a young kid like me could learn the game so quickly and keep up with the wily veteran, or how an elderly woman was still sharp enough to bring even the most cunning player down in one play. People who know me will tell you that I am not the most outspoken or openly emotional person, but they also know that my actions reveal my most inner sentiments. This was a trait I developed while sitting at the card table with my grandmother.
In hindsight, I realize all the little things I could have done to be a better grandchild. Visiting more frequently, especially just before her passing would be the one thing I would have done. But the truth is I couldn’t. It was less than one year after her diagnoses that Edith Taylor succumbed to cancer on February 2, 2002. The same woman with whom I had had numerous rubber matches, who was always as sharp and impressive as the day she first taught me the rules of cribbage at the age of three. These were my memories of her and I did not want lose them by witnessing her decline. Immediately preceding her death it was this sharpness that was the last to go, and I could not bring myself to be around to see it. It is only now I realize that no matter what happens in the end, no matter how a loved one suffers and changes because of a disease, the image and the memories remain steadfast. My grandmother will always be a formidable opponent, and we will always share an unspoken bond. It is a tough lesson to learn, but one I know she understands.
I am proud of my family members who had the strength to be there day-in-day-out and am even more proud of them for understanding my weakness during that time. I am riding to honour that strength I saw most notably in my Mother and Sister, but even more importantly I ride to honour my Grandmother, Edith Taylor, cribbage master and a Typical Canadian.
Who am I riding with? I am riding with my Grandmother Edith Taylor…WHO ARE YOU RIDING WITH?
