A Doll's Hat

My fears around the surgery built all day.... God, please let me be as strong as my young patients are.

- Mandy Haynes

I held up the hat I’d just finished and burst out laughing. It was my first attempt at knitting and hadn’t gone as planned. I’d made a mistake somewhere along the way, and the lavender hat I’d wanted to make for myself had turned out too small to fit me or anyone else. It was no bigger than the palm of my hand!

I have to show this to the team at work tomorrow, I thought. I was a pediatric cardiac sonographer at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, in Nashville, Tennessee. It was a stressful job, and humor was always appreciated. I sewed a little flower onto the side of the hat and brought it to work the next day. We team members all had a good laugh at my mini hat and got back to our patients. I stuck the hat in a drawer and forgot about it.