My father died last Saturday at the age of 96. He had been coping with a series of small strokes that affected his hand movements, hearing, and speaking. He had been a master carpenter most of his life, so his senses and eye/hand coordination were his most fundamental tools. The losses had added up a little too quickly. He communicated frustration and depression. And so he did the most logical thing to cope anyone could do: he went to sleep. He stopped eating; he spiraled down; he started recei
