Get my hat!
I talked to my cousin this morning. His dad, my uncle died last night. He said one of the last things his dad said, and said quite vigorously, was, “Get my hat!”
We all grew up on the Great Plains. Part of the state song of Oklahoma refers to the wind sweeping down the plain. And sweep it does. And the sun is unrelenting. The men wear hats. And when I was younger, all the women wore hats when they worked out in their yards–I remember Aunt Eva’s slat bonnet, for example.
But the point is, if you were going somewhere, you got your hat. So, Uncle Larry was on the verge of going somewhere and he knew he needed his hat. At some level he knew he was physically unable to get it himself, so he was asking his kids to get it for him. They did and when the hospice workers arrived, there he was in bed with his hat on, a completely fitting way for a panhandle man to go.
Rest in peace, Uncle Larry. You were loved and we’ll miss you.
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