An Accumulation of Hats ... and Stories

Who knew? I was scouring through all the pics on my phone when I realized that I had covertly (even to myself) piled up a plethora of photos of me in various chapeaus. I am posting them here along with their stories.

The hat above is my favorite Atlanta Falcons lid. I am wearing it at Jekkyl Island on a kind of cool day. We had driven down to watch my son JB run at a cross country meet his senior year of High School at SEHS (2009).

This hat was knitted by my daughter Emmalyne (though not for me). I put it on in a moment of silliness. I think this was over the holidays (Christmas 2009). I think it has a certain avant-garde artistic effect. It also looks like I might pack a duffle bag and hop a freight train while whistling Roger Miller tunes.

This is obviously not a hat; it is a wig--again, not mine. I think it says, "Maynard G. Krebs." If that is before your time, Krebs was a character on the 50s sitcom, "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." Krebs was a beatnik played by Bob Denver who went on to star as Gilligan on "Gilligan's Island."

This hat has a sad story. My dad divorced this past year after nine years of marriage. We were moving him from Metter to Augusta. We had to put his stuff in storage for a while and I found this fedora with his stuff. I really wanted to pilfer it, but he was attached to it for some reason. It matched my Nike T.

While on a mission trip to Pittsburgh, PA this past Summer we went to the "strip district" downtown. This was the old leatherhead style Steeler souveneir helmet. I tried it on and Gary Leutzinger took my picture. Later we ate at the locally famous Primanti Brothers deli where they put french fries and coleslaw on top of your sandwich.

This hat was also for sale at the strip district in Pittsburgh. I declined to purchase it, but it made a nice memory. It kinda lmakes me like a rastafarian who works at Burger King, circa 1973.

This hat moment took place during the 2010 Pittsburgh mission trip. We were teaching VBS and it was cowboy themed. My wife Frankie LOVES the little red cowboy hat look. I know because she once had a picture of me in one, but she lost it when she dropped her cell phone in a glass of water. I took this picture to make her happy by replacing the one she lost in the cell phone tragedy.

This helmet picture was from December 2009. I went to Hayward, Wisconsin to officiate a wedding for Rusty Abel. His step-dad, Mark Meehan, took us all snow-mobiling. Mark got lost on the way back and we were not dressed for the elements. It was fun, but I told Mark that if he had gotten us irretrievably lost, I would have gone canibal on him. I have never been so cold in my life.