One More Hat

Today I finished another hat to be fulled along with the two that I completed earlier this weekend.  That's a pretty productive weekend for me considering how much more yarn it takes to make this style of hat, approximately 470 yards each, since the yarn is held double.

And a close up and truer photo of the latest hat, the red one:

I've got a busy week ahead, not the least of which is the first anniversary of my Dad's death.  It is amazing to think an entire year has gone by.  I remember thinking before he was ill, that time would pass so slowly following his death and I would think about him every day.  Inexplicably, that has not been the case.  Days turned into weeks which became months and now it has been a full year. 

I last spoke to him in the 'home' on August 9th, where I walked into the lobby and saw him sitting on the couch, no eyeglasses on, his hair damp from a recent shower.  He stood up and gently crashed to the floor.  He was obviously disoriented and hadn't called me by name for a few weeks.  He was happy to see me even if he couldn't recall my name.  He fell again the following day, striking his head on a coffee table, leading to two subdural hematomas.  He died the following morning with me at his side.  I've thought about it a lot since that day and have come to realize it was meant to be. I had spent so, so many hours at his side throughout his many surgeries and hospitalizations, it was just the way things were meant to play out.

I blogged about that day here.  I honestly wouldn't change anything about that day.  With Dementia things only get worse, they never improve and it would have been agonizing to watch him continue down the path he was heading.  A gentle, peaceful passing is all we could ever hope for, for those we love as well as ourselves.