I’ve been pondering hats lately. In days gone by, everyone wore hats. Men would don their fedoras to go out for the day, while women would drool over new creations in windows of department stores. I remember an ‘I Love Lucy’ episode where Lucy spent way too much money on a hat and the whole show was about her angst trying to prevent Ricky from finding out. These days, most people only wear them to stay warm or unsquinty from the sunshine.

I love hats. I wish I had the guts to wear one a lot more often than I do. One woman at my church wears one almost every Sunday. She looks beautiful and everyone affectionately calls her the ‘hat lady’. Surprisingly, she is closer to my age than my mom’s, as it’s usually the older set who are church wearers.

Of course, some people look good in hats, while others……not so much. Melissa, the afore-mentioned church goer, looks great, as does my friend, Kristy, who occasionally wears a large, black one to her church. I bought Kenn an Ivy cap for Christmas and he looks great, too.

And then there’s poor Jonathan. Several years ago, he was getting ready to go out into the cold. I had my back to him as he said, “Ya know, I just don’t look good in hats.” He is a very handsome guy, if I do say so myself, and I replied, “Oh honey, I’m sure you look fine.” Then I turned around. Now we parents are always trying to build our kids’ self esteem up, no matter what. That’s a parent’s duty, isn’t it? Well, I blew it as a mother that day. I laughed so long and so hard, I thought I was going to wet myself. Let me just say, he knew what he was talking about. I won’t include a picture of him, as I don’t want to risk my son disowning me. But two of my other kids, who also don’t look so great in hats, don’t have a choice about me adding pictures of them.