Tonight, many an anxious, excited 20-something, 30-something... along with quite a few 40-something, fitty-something, and a handful of 60-and over-something will don the little cone hats with the elastic string that really stings your chin if you let it slip while putting it on - and ring in the new year.
You say you want a revolution? Me? I'll take hats.
I have a friend, a wonderful friend.. been thru some really, really crappy times health wise... while at the same time juggling work, paying bills, not being able to work, struggling to pay bills, working, single parenting all the while.. and being one of the most dependable people I know - for years, and years, and years. She's making change in her life. A new hat... she'll lovingly place the old hat on the shelf so she can gaze at it periodically - to remember where she's been, the good, the struggle, the love.. her hat on the shelf is labeled "everyone else".. her new hat is penned "everyone else... and me." She's making a huge step in her life, I'm very proud of her.
Annuder friend... you live, you go, you do, you observe - and perception is "all is right." This friend, unbeknownst to many of us, had been living silently "all is not right." A good buddy from many years ago, "cut eye holes" in the hat (so to speak) so this person could see.. live.. breathe.. and (re)discover how truly blessed their life is. Far out. Mebbe, just mebbe, a revolution hat too.
I was gonna do the same ole same ole "this happened in 2018.. that happened in 2018... first time ever for _____.. gadget of the year.. big news events... here's to 2019 kinda stuff." yada, yada, yada - but that idea gave me heartburn and diarrhea.. TMI I know, sorry, but(t), just the facts ma'am, just the facts.
Instead, I like hats. My two friend's hats. Their new hats.
Yet another friend, he dons the same hat every Saturday when he goes to this charitable place and hands out groceries to those that have a tough time purchasing groceries. The really, really good ones (charitable givers) never talk about their deeds.. he doesn't, ever.. I only know because of conversations with his spouse.. he goes, he wears the hat, he gives, he goes home, he's back the next Saturday, wearing the hat, he gives - and it's repeated 52 times a year (and it started MANY a year ago.) God Bless.
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo many wonderful people, so many amazing, colorful hats. The hound (and cat) folks. The ones that put on the "I know you don't have a home (hat), come live with me for awhile, then we'll try to find you a full-time home".. and as oft times it turns out, that hat becomes "Ok, why don't you just live here forever and ever (hat)"... Sure, you can 'smell' dog (or cat) once you enter, and uh huh, there's pet hair in the easy chair, BUT, freedom. Sing it Richie Havens, Freedom.. I think the lyrics say something like "Sometimes, I feel, like a motherless child." Not these pets, thanks to these wunnerful hat-wearers... Arf, meow, Yum.
The folks that wear the hats that resemble ski masks, have a fairly large hole for them to talk, breathe out of.. and they continually, and wonderfully, speak up and put us back on course when we're throwing a pity party, playing the game "ain't it awful", "woe is me" kinda stuff. They knock us, LOVINGLY, back to reality, BUT, with love. We may not exactly feel the love as we're reminded to "snap out of it", but, once we're back by our self, mebbe driving home, we thank them, and we bless these hats (and mouth-holes) and the heads that reside underneath.
We all, kinda sorta, live in "small worlds", yet are privy to surrounding ourselves with so many in wonderful hats. The joke-teller hat. The happy person hat. The dependable person hat. The organizer person hat. The family person hat. Sure, the mate person hat. The I-aint-seenya-in-such-a-longtime-but-it-feels-just-like-yesterday hat.
The kiss-and-make-up-hat... Sure we've each got a friend where somehow, somewhere, things went South. Happens. Sometimes it goes unrepaired. Sometimes, we put on our big boy pants and mend that fence, "kiss and make up." I went thru this this past year with a buddy who is equally as hardheaded as me, hehe. We men, well, we don't kiss and make up like maybe you chickys do (hey, we're just starting to udder the L-word, give us a hat-break)..well, we mended our fence.. Those hats are always nice, and sometimes never worn.. let's.. let's be thankful when we do put 'em on..
Midnight usedta be old hat to me. No more. I won't make it. Oh, I will don a hat, hey, even a kinda-sorta new hat to me (an O'Douls hat), and I will enjoy 2018 turning into 2019 during my REM's..
I'm simply thankful for all the wonderful hats in my/our lives.
Oh, hat's the way, uh-huh uh-huh I like it, uh-huh uh-huh....
By Henry Derby Gibson
Love, Victurd
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