Hats

I never used to like hats. In fact, I couldn't stand them. I'd have never made it in little league because I always would have been out of uniform. In the summer before 7th grade, however, events transpired that would change my disdain to fondness. Arena football was coming to the valley in the form of the Arizona Rattlers and I was keenly interested, so I convinced my jr. high youth group leader to get season tickets so that I could go to *one* game (riiight...). The free gift with the season tickets was a Rattlers hat and Roger gave it to me. When he took me to the game I didn't figure it would be right not to wear his gift, awkward as I thought it was, so I sucked it up and wore it. It was only for one night, right? Wellll...he told me that he thought the hat looked cool on me. So did Kelly, this cute blonde that was also in the group. That sealed the deal. Hat stayed.

From then on I've been a fan of hats, and they've been fans of me. Some of them have even become trademarks - people found me in crowds by my hats. Ranging from normal baseball caps to mombosoks to snowboarding hats to golf caps and fedoras, they've been a part of my life. One of my favorites is my old grey golf cap...I liked it so much it even went on formal dates and appeared in my senior pictures...


I continue to wear hats not just because I like them, but because my father has an ongoing bout with skin cancer. A small patch of cancer keeps popping up on his head in the same spot, and other, smaller patches appear all around his skull. The last trip to the dermatologist yielded 19 sores. The docs tell him that part of the reason is because he didn't protect his head when we first moved out here (he's completely bald on top) with sunscreen or a hat. That's not gonna happen to me (at least not for that reason).

In any case, my trademark hat right now is a black pseudo-fedora by Volcom. At work people make comments about it literally every day I wear it, ranging from, "That hat really looks classy...I wish more people would wear hats like that, " to, "You were born to wear that hat," to "MmMmMm...I love it when you wear that hat." People may not know my name, but I guarantee that if you refer to me as "the guy that wears that black hat," people will know who you're talking about.


If people identify me by my hat, that's fine. In fact, I think it's kinda neat. I just hope that I'm remembered by something other than my headwear.