Summer is not over, but for me and my youngest son, summer vacation has drawn to a close.

The long, luxurious days that so recently stretched out ahead of us, will be replaced by days that are increasingly shorter and packed with too much to do, and tomorrow (his first day of school) our day will begin before sunrise.

My son spent his last day of summer vacation completing a book report that is due tomorrow for an assigned summer reading for one of his classes, while I spent my time churning out as many squares for my 2014 North Carolina State Fair project as I could, and while I fell short of my personal goals (a chronic complaint I have every year at this time), I did make progress, and got this far before it was time to pack everything up and start getting ready for what awaits:

While my son and I were transitioning from summer vacation to school, across the continent, my friend Becky’s husband, Donn, made his final transition.

I first wrote about Donn in March of 2013. At the time, he was beginning to experience a lot of difficulty with the cancer he had been battling, and I had crocheted matching hats for him and his grandson Zachary so they could go out and make memories together:

Another result of Donn’s battle with sarcoma was that I ended up designing this cancer awareness ribbon (and writing up this free pattern/tutorial):

which has been well received in cancer awareness communities.

I know that Donn will be missed by all of those who loved him and whose lives he touched, but a part of him will live on each time someone makes a cancer awareness ribbon using the pattern he inspired.