I’m a hat guy.  I adopted wearing hats when I had a piece of the bridge of my nose cut off due to Basal Cell Carcinoma.  I now have a divot to remind me of my ill spent youth.  Rather than wearing just one hat, I started buying a lot of them.   I can’t pass a hat store.   My wife indulges me.

My collection continues to grow.  I have summer and winter hats, as well as dressy and informal ones.   They may be made of straw, felt, beaver, leather, canvas and materials that only a chemist can identify.  Some are city bred while others are definitely country or western.  Their common denominator – broad brims – designed to shield my face and neck from the sun.

Today is “switch-your-world-from-summer-to-winter” day.   After getting in my HIAH Get Big Phase 2A workout this morning, (can’t let my 52DC numbers slip) a friend helped me store away all of the pool and patio furniture.  That was pay back for a summer of sitting around our pool. 

My wife is going through her wardrobe in detail.  With the kids out of the house, she has expanded into every closet.  She is on hour #3 and far from finished.  I moved my T-shirts from up front to off to the side and my long sleeve T’s and pull overs from off to the side to up front.  That took me 5 minutes.  Moved my shorts and bathing suits to the top shelf and my sweaters from the top shelf to eye level, that took another 5 minutes.  That left the hats. 

Went down the basement and got the large plastic container filled with winter hats and brought it upstairs.  Rounded up all the summer hats and made the switch.   Well over a dozen winter hats are out and about.  While I put them out, I tried them each on to make sure that they were still wearable.

Some interesting – well at least to me – observations.  Having lost 80 pounds and spent the last 3.5 years exercising in an attempt to do some body re-composition work, has had an impact on my head.  Yes – it is swollen with pride, but that is not what I am talking about.

Some of the hats that had more modest brims, did not look right on me when I was at my heaviest.  Those are fine now.  Some of the broadest brimmed hats, now make me look like my 3 yo grandson is wearing one of my hats.  My new thinner face is way to small for them.   And strangest of all, a couple no longer fit.  They are too big for my head.  How the hell do you lose weight around your far head where a hat sits?  But you do – or at least – I did. 

Hats I can’t wear: Baseball caps.  I look like my father – and that ain’t pretty.  Brimless ones – just not functional.  The latest fashion – the thin brimmed “pork pie” hats that you see on entertainers.  I am just too old for those.  Winter hats with pull down ear muffs – really screw up my hearing aids – the feed back is intense. 

These hats have become my personal brand.  When I go places, people look to see what I’m wearing.  “What – no hat today?”  And – most importantly – my grandsons – “Where’s your hat?”  They love to parade around in them.

Ok – back to work – have to take the summer hats down the basement.   The whole hat switch around took 15 minutes.  My wife has another couple of hours to go.

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