My father was a kind, generous and creative person. He was a carpenter for four decades; running his own construction company for three of those decades. He enjoyed working with his hands and making things out of wood. He indulged in that hobby all his life until his eyesight became so bad he could no longer perceive depth and safely use his tools. He made furniture, jewelry, wooden home goods (such as bowls and platters), clocks, memory boxes, picture frames and other unique creations he could "carve" with a lathe. He would make these things in his spare time and set up a booth at festivals throughout the years, including the Harrisonville Log Cabin Festival and the Katy Rice Festival. He was truly an artist with wood as his medium. One of the last things he made for me was some furniture for a bedroom. I found some pictures on Pinterest and explained what I liked and what I wanted different and daddy was up for the challenge. The end result was exactly what I wanted. The headboard for the bed was even better than I expected! His family and friends will always cherish those pieces of art.
Daddy was diagnosed with Dementia in his late 70s. At first it was just simple things he would forget. As the years went by I noticed he participated less in conversations. He used to read the newspaper cover to back, but eventually didn't even pick it up to look at it. He forgot how to answer his phone and we knew he couldn't drive any longer because we were fearful he would get lost. It was very difficult to see his independence slip away from him as he was one of the most active men I knew.
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