When Ruth and Hannah were very little girls, Carla made them
wear matching hats, just like this one, except theirs were white.
The kids wore them even in warm weather when they were often
wearing nothing else. Nude, mosquito bitten, sweaty…happily chasing Ohio the
Wonder Dog around in our remote front yard…under the protection of magic hats.
Carla thought the hats kept the children safe from just
about everything that could harm them, especially any kind of infectious
illness or disease. They were a knitted version of Mormon underwear.
But the girls despised them.
Ruth was older and somewhat fatalistic. She knew that her
Mom insisted that they wear the hats and it was easiest to take the path of
least resistance and just do it.
Hannah wasn’t built that way.
So, on a visit to see the Grandparents who lived at the
beach, Hannah dug a deep hole in the sand and buried her hat.
Fini... Let it sleep with the fishes!
Now I’m surprised to see that little Wilder Maverick is
wearing a magic hat. Just like one her Mom hated so much, only Wilder’s hat is
in Salmon.
He lives in San Diego, so that explains it.
The other odd thing about this picture is the pan. When we
first moved to St Augustine, 30 years ago, we lived with Carla’s Mom and Dad
for three months until we could afford to get our own place. While I was at
work during the day, Carla would take the pots and pans out of Grandma’s
cupboard and give them to Hannah to play with. Carla’s Mom, Marie, didn’t like
that. Noisy, dirty, not a proper way to raise children. It became an issue that
expedited our transition into a place of our own, just down the street.
Now I see Ruth doing the “let’s play with pans” thing, with
the protection of a San Diego Salmon colored magic hat on the noggin of Little
Stinky.
Wow, how quickly we forget. What’s next for Ruth, Miss Organic
Vegetarian bookworm...a gallon of Bluebell Vanilla Chocolate Chip high-fat
content ice cream, a bent spoon, and reruns of “Forensic Files” on the tube… like Carla is wallowing
in out on the recliner right now?
