Hats for every reason

Always wondered why some people wore hats all the time. Like today's trendy tattoos, I have come to conclude that hats define individuality. My husband has been lamenting the follicles that challenge hair growth with each passing year. It seems to bother him more than anyone else. This past year he began wearing a driving cap, which sometimes goes to bed with him. I try not to chuckle until he has fallen asleep, then remove the cap from his head, without a twitch that might awaken him. Guess when you wear a hat all day, you forget it is there.

Scoring through boxes of old pictures, found that my folks felt a need to place a hat on my head from the time I was an infant to heaven knows when. It might have been the flat spot on my skull that they were trying to hide. Having been graced with lots of hair, I do not believe anyone would have noticed the flat spot.

The 40s, 50s and 60s were hat days, and really did not pay much attention to who wore hats in the late 50s, but remember women wearing all kinds of hats in the 60s. Plumes, net, flowers, felt, woven, scarves, snoods and other couture hats that were simply hideous. Never really had a desire to wear one then, yet I enjoyed entering my Godmother's closet that held dozens of fancy hats. Then there were the gloves that matched the hats - short, long, fancy and just plain awful.

One lady in the neighborhood wore one of those Little House on the Prairie bonnets when she worked in her garden. As a kid it was confusing as to what era we were living in, but heck it was her choice of hat. It did not stop us from jumping the fence to pick green apples off her trees. She would coming dashing out of the house with a broom, hollering, with her bonnet flapping in the wind. We never determined what kind of hair she had or the color. It was only a guess what she was going to do with the broom.

I can fully understand and appreciate a knitted cap that covers the ears and nose in cold weather. That gives much purpose to a cold head and appendages that when cold, the entire body trembles with a desire to be warm.

So much for hats in our lives. If the hat fits, wear it! Just waiting for the trend to turn around when hats are in vogue. Not really sure that I will take to anything but a woven cap in the winter, but hey, they are fun to observe. I still enjoy seeing pictures of the Queen because hats still live on with royalty.