March 25, 2008. Chevy Chase, Maryland. Hats.

Some things in my life are the direct result of acts initiated and implemented by me. I was asked to teach Physical Education at a Junior High School because I had a teaching certificate and had taken the summer courses giving me that certification too. In addition I had taken my Red Cross papers to become a water safety teacher. So when I wanted to teach P.E. instead of fourth grade, I had the credentials necessary when the job was available. Other teachers wanted the job, but had ommitted to get the required water safety course. Other aspect in my life are the result of other people in my life. Hats come in that catagory.

Yesterday a couple came by my office, along with their agent, and admired all my hats. They made the comment that I must really like hats. I had to admit that the presence of all these hats had absolutely nothing to do with me. In fact I actually had nothing to do with all my hats, The hat thing got started and then take on a life of it's own. This is how it all started.

First the background. I was an agent in the office and was asked to take on the task of Manager in the same office, as the old manager wanted to go to the Potomac office. This was late September, 1987. I accepted the position and began running the office early October. At our first Christmas party, in the home of Peppy and Bill Walsh, Gary Ditto gave me a hat all wrapped up in a fancy box. The hat was a two peaked baseball cap, with the caption "I am their leader. Which way did they go?" Everyone laughed. I wore the hat the rest of the party. At our next sales meeting, as a way to say thaks to Gary, I wore the hat. An amazing thing happened at that sales meeting. Everyone had a lot more fun, more frivoloty, less anxiouty. Now remember I had been an agent in the same office and very often at our sales meetings an agent would ask me a question, often a very difficult question, which I had no clue how to answer. But wearing that ridiculous hat, it was not possible to ask me hard questions. So they stopped asking hard questions. Now I am not the smartest person in the world but I'm not totally stupid too. I wore that hat at every meeting. Soon Kay Beane gave me a cowboy had with a corn cob. And then a court jester hat given by Lynn Gorsage. All I did was wear those hats in order to keep the fun rolling along and no difficult topics discussed in public. The hats kept coming in, one at a time, for the past twenty plus years. They fill the hall outside my office. They fill my office too. And I wear a different hat every Tuesday. For I while I was able to cajole the staff into wearing a hat , but they won't do it any more.

This is true. This hat fettish took on a life of it's own, without any help from me. All I did was to enjoy the ride.