My Longs Hat

In one of my recent forays to Longs Drugs I stumbled upon a rack of sun hats that were 25% off. I’d been thinking I needed something to protect me from the sun since I’m out walking with Katie-Pie a lot, and by the end of the day all the sun had been giving me headaches. I was also fearful that by August I’d have the leathery skin of a sunbathing octogenarian from Miami.

Anyway, I first picked out a bright orange hat thinking maybe it was secretly the most fashionable one there. I wasn’t sure that I liked it, but for all I knew it was a look that was all over the runways in Milan. (I’m fairly certain that much Italian couture ends up in the Longs sale aisle.) Then I considered the chocolate brown one. Mark’s fashionable Aunt Terry told me once brown is a good color for me, and I took it as gospel. Then I saw a plain old tan one–a color both non-descript and unassuming. After much hand wringing, I decided to make the $11 plunge on the tan one. (In my working days I would have spent 10 times that on something I liked half as much without a second thought. And yes, that is a math word problem.)

This hat has changed my life. Okay, so not really, but I love it. And I’ve somehow convinced myself that it’s kinda hip too! It’s just a floppy canvas hat with a big brim. I wear it with the goggly sunglasses I bought years back when I was in some short-lived Sophia Loren mode. Every morning when we go for walks I toss it on, and Kate wears her hot pink sun hat with the Lilies of the Valley pattern. Together we are a knockout pair.

It may not even take years for me to look back on this hat and determine how absolutely absurd it is. That day may be right around the corner. But I figure that wearing a silly hat will facilitate Kate looking at photos of us from this summer some day, and saying, “My God, Mom! What were you thinking with that hat?”

I’ll just lie and tell her that hats like mine were very chic at the time.