by Lynn Mandaville
I really didn’t need another hat.The one I already owned was perfectly serviceable. A sort of boater in style, it was a dark tan, stiffly woven hat with a moderately wide brim and a snazzy, wide band and eccentric big bow of green and yellow sunflower fabric. In hot weather, the inside band itched, and in a strong breeze it tended to blow off. But it was perfectly serviceable.
So why did I keep circling back to this particular booth in the antique mall to look at another hat?
This pale, beige hat was used, and looked it. A modified fedora in shape, it was soft and flexible from wear. The light tan crown had a list to it. The woven plaid of the brim had an uneven shape and curl. All in all, the hat, though more than gently worn, seemed clean and comfortable in its old age. And it did have panache. It sported a large, orange sunflower in a cluster of three smaller, yellow sunflowers and two large green leaves tied with a raffia string. Though even that adornment was a bit faded and frayed. (Did I mention that the sunflower was large?)
Yet here I was, again, trying it on, again, and preening in the mirror, again, telling myself that $34 was too much of an indulgence for a hat I didn’t need. So I walked away, again.
On the seeming hundredth time around to look at the hat, there was my husband looking at everything else in the booth but the hat. I showed it to him. He shrugged. I asked him if $34 was too much to spend on a hat I didn’t need. He said, “Put it on.” I did. He said, “It’s you.” (He always says that, even when whatever I’ve tried on is God-awful.)
I took it off. He said again, “It’s you,” with a little more conviction. I said, “But it’s $34.” And he said, “You know that everything in this booth is half off.”
I bought the hat.
I’ve worn it every day since. It’s comfortable. The inside band doesn’t itch, and it sits snugly on my big old noggin, even in a strong breeze. It shades my eyes better than any other hat I’ve tried. And as it turns out… it’s enchanted.
Really! It has some kind of spell. Not a day goes by when at least one person comments on my hat. Not one day! And sometimes it’s multiple comments.
Women speak of it with envy in their voices. Men marvel at the sunflowers like small children might. Little kids think it’s beautiful! Outside the Chandler Public Library where I go twice a week, there is always a duo of Jehovah’s Witnesses with their tracts, patiently waiting for someone to approach them. Invariably, one or both of them have something lovely to say about the hat. Occasionally, there is a homeless man just waking up on the bench outside the library, and he is quite enamored of the hat. One hippie-like dude waxed poetic about it. During “petition season” before the primary election, the signature gatherers invariably expressed awe over this simple old hat. You would think I was wearing the elaborate headdress of a Las Vegas showgirl.
I don’t understand the appeal, except to say that the hat draws the attention of lots of people, like it did me in the antique shop. It has enough magnetism that it induces people to actually tell me aloud how wonderful it is!
I know the appeal isn’t me. I’m a short, pear-shaped, 68-year-old woman whose hair sticks out from under the hat like a silver haystack. In fact, I sometimes feel like the invisible conveyance that carries royalty among the commoners to be adored and praised.
My hat has that inexplicable quality called charisma.
It elicits joy wherever it goes.
Who’d have thought you can buy happiness for just $17?
Now, is there someplace I can go to buy world peace at such a bargain price?
Yes, you can make positive change – vote for Republicans for Congress and vote Trump in 2020! Problems solved. Make America Great Again!
Peace in the true sense can hardly ever be bought with money, or political party.
It takes a mystical understanding of the words…Love…Charity…and Peace. Which are defined differently by everyone….yes there is a dictionary definition, but in truth these words have much different meanings to everyone.
What does Peace really mean? Is it where everyone believes and does the same? Is it where we have opposing opinions, but live without aggression or violence towards those that disagree with our thoughts. Is Peace where peoples of like believes live in isolation from opposing views?
All are or could be regarded as a definition of Peace .
Somewhere I’ve heard the following…..As long as there are two people still on this earth true peace will never be achieved…..
Let’s hope a common definition of Peace can be achieved and practiced by all.
I’m sorry Lynn. I feel obliged to apologize for the comment posted by “Don’t Tread on Me”. I am at a total loss to understand why some one had to tromp all over a very nice “Feel Good” article and insert his own brand of political claptrap.
Please keep on writing the stories that make us feel peaceful and maybe some day he will take his head out of the voting booth; look around and realize there is more to the world than the inside of the booth.
Thank you, Pat. To paraphrase a famous line, sometimes a hat is just a hat.
Peace.