Hats, Hats and more Hats !

Woke up this morning almost laughing with an image of D on my mind.  A smile on my face when I remembered what I had been dreaming.  D loved hats, hats and more hats.  He was very particular about his hats and how he wore them, how they were cared for and the brim.  No one could wore a hat better than that man. 

In this image D has on this black cap that I absolutely thought looked horrible.  He loved it, but it sat high on his head, he had a BIG head.  The hat just didn't fit right, but he loved this hat.  When he wanted to buy a hat he would try one on, take it off, adjust the brim, try it back on, look in the mirror, take it off, adjust the brim, over and over.  It was almost like a woman looking for a wedding dress.  I laugh at the memories of hat (cap) buying with him.

D bought this ugly hat.  I told him he looked great in it, because that's what he wanted to hear and believe me he was going to buy it anyway.  I also knew that in a day or two, we would be somewhere and he would buy another hat to take this ones place.  No such luck, oh he bought more hats, but for some reason he loved that ugly thing and on date day, he would drag that thing out plop it on his head, put on his purple jean jacket and off we would go.  The purple jean jacket a gift from the Jackson crew for Christmas one year.  He also loved that thing. 

Here is a man who in the past had worn suits, ties, polished shoes and pressed shirts.  Now he was so comfortable that he wanted to be free, free to wear what he wanted, hats, jean jackets, jeans and t-shirts.  I love this guy, but I really hated that hat. 

Over the course of years, many more hats were brought into our home, D became an avid Cardinals fan and the famous ugly black hat got pushed to the back of the closet.  D never left the house without a hat on his head, when we traveled we almost took another bag just for his hats and he always bought one or two more.  Bo and Jeremy always got hats from where we went. 

D even taught Bo how to structure a cap with rubberbands around the bill to make the correct shape.  Something only a father teaches a son.  Whenever I put a cap on my head, D always and I mean always readjusted it so that "it looked right".  I don't wear caps alot, but I know how to structure the bill and sit it on my head if I do.

Bo became absessed with caps just like his Dad, he collected and he wore much to Lori's dismay.  She didn't like him in a cap wanted to see his "beautiful" hair.  To us, that was a way of life, boys and Dads wear caps. 

Many years later, Jill and I were having a garage sale, D was cleaning out his closet and he handed me this ugly black hat.  He said and I quote "I never really liked the way this thing fit anyway."  I almost fell over,  I laughed and said "Me, either."  to which D replied "Well, why in the ___ didn't you tell me?  I wouldn't have bought it." 

Sometimes, honesty is the best policy - not, he really wanted that hat, he enjoyed wearing it and who cares if I didn't like it.  After awhile he quit wearing it, replaced it with something else and in the end we both got a great laugh out of it.  That hat is probably in the landfill or in a foreign country by now, because I remember the person who bought it and it didn't fit his head anybetter than it did D's.