The divine birth of the Hat

The craft store giveth and the craft store taketh away

Before finding the Hat we lived your run-of-the-mill hatless existence. We had been friends for quite some time now. Megan and I bonded in 6th grade throwing Gushers at people in the lunch room and ended up going to the same IB high school where we joined the forensics debate team together. We met Nicole there and she quickly completed our quirky friendship with her own sparkle of inventiveness.

Our friendship survived the test of time as we all went our separate ways after high school. Nicole was off to Santa Clara to study Anthropology and Women’s Studies. Megan headed to GW in our nation’s capital to study International Affairs and later added minors in Journalism and Economics. I attended the University of Denver to pursue a degree in Public Policy and International Studies.

Having one of us on the East Coast, one on the West coast, and one of us smack in the middle of the country only deepened our bond. We always seemed to rewind the clock when we reunited in our hometown in Colorado. The Holy Trinity (as I affectionately and sacrilegiously refer to us as) was here to stay.

Because the Holy Trinity, above everything else, has a fixation on all things cheap, we decided to stop by our local craft store on an ordinary July evening. While perusing the aisles, we debated the merits of exotic animal wall hangings, do-it-yourself pet rock kits, and decoupage crucifixes. When we got to the bead isle, the fateful moment occurred.

Nicole noticed a straw cowboy hat and put it on. It had been lying there unobtrusively next to a pile of “My First Baby” beanies and Nicole put it on. It was fashionable but not overly stylish, a look we had perfected over the years. The Hat rested perfectly atop Nicole’s blonde hair. As she passed it to me, I felt the magic of the Hat envelope me. I somehow felt invincible. Could you get superpowers from an ordinary hat? I wondered. As I handed it to Megan, something truly remarkable happened; it fit her like a glove too.

Considering the fact that my forehead is so large you could probably build a commune on it, Nicole’s head is medium sized, and Megan's head is pretty lumpy, it was clear this was no ordinary hat. We looked at each other in awe and I swear we all had the same idea run through our minds. The Hat was going to change the course of our lives forever.

The more we excitedly passed around the Hat, the more possibilities arose. Suddenly, Megan looked pale as she took the Hat in her hands and remarked, “You know…there is one slight problem. We’re all going to be in different countries in the Fall, not just coasts.” Megan was right. There were clearly some complicated and unresolved issues.

“What if we just share the Hat? We could keep it for a few weeks at a time and then send it to each other?” I asked. “Yeah,” Nicole agreed. We began to devise a plan. The Hat would accompany Nicole on her 15 hour flight to Buenos Aires and after four weeks of tango the Hat would makes its way via UPS ground shipping to Megan in D.C. where it would delight in some whirlwind patriotic escapades before spending its last four weeks in Kenya with me.

Would the shipping be expensive? Yes. Would we all wait impatiently for the Hat to come to us and transform our lives? Yes. Would we Carpe this Diem all the way to a new blog? Yes indeed.

-Jennifer