The Package (My Blog Hat)

One of my best friends in this world is my old college roommate TJ (aka: Teej, ET, Tim, Timmy, and many other non-G rated names we won’t go into). He and I have been in each other's weddings, we've raised a bunch of "trouble" together, we've shared many laughs, shared a few tears, killed many flies together (inside joke!), have many inside jokes, and so many other things over the years that I should end this list with an etc. now. TJ & I can go for long periods of time without talking, and then when we finally get together things pick up where they left off when last we saw each other. He's that kind of friend...rarely found, always cherished. TJ has also been "follicly challenged" (balding or bald) since the first I met him. Since there is a strong prediction that I will go bald (which as of this morning seems to be coming true), I e-mailed TJ for some possible fashion tips. I was expecting the answer "need more leather" (another inside joke about a visit to Poseurs Club in Georgetown sometime back in the mid 1980's). However, TJ came back with a one word answer..."hats." So, TJ has taken it upon himself to send me hats to help with my likely new hair style (or non-hair style as the case may be).

As most of you may know by now given my last blog entry, my week last week was less than perfect! When I finally got home from the hospital there was a package waiting at the door. The return address was TJ's. So after the Saving Crew left me on Friday, I opened the package and found inside it one of the most ... um ... well, one of the most ridiculous looking hats you could imagine. (Time to be ready for a couple of really obscure references!) The hat looks like a combination of the hats worn by Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle in the "French Connection" and the the title character's from the old TV show "Kolchak, The Night Stalker." To add to the ridiculousness of it, TJ had attached a number of pins to it. Not just any pins, but some pins that we had collected with our other roommate (and another of my best friends in the world), Dave. These pins used to hang on a bunting that we hung off the home-made bar that resided in the living room of our off-campus house (classic and cliche for the times!). Well TJ chose these pins quite carefully from the numerous ones that still reside on the bunting, and each has meaning in the form of even more inside jokes or incredible events during those years. Basically, the pins make the hat! At least for me.

So, after opening the box, all I could do was laugh ... then laugh some more ... then laugh even more. It was a perfect ending to the Kaka week that I had just been through. After getting my wits about me, I called TJ immediately, which started the laughter all over again. We laughed for about an hour on the phone, reliving the meaning of each pin. The laughter really was just great!

After a little more discussion, we finally got around to agreeing that this will be my Blog Hat and I would wear it while blogging here (which I'm doing right now).

Teej (and thus tacitly his wife Joan ) has promised that more thematic hats will be forthcoming along the way. I don't know if the laughter this one induced can be topped, but it will be fun to see what TJ (& Joan) come up with next!

Life is good!


PS: Joan has since e-mailed me. It seems that she & TJ are coming to stay with me the week of Aug 4 to help me through Chemo Week Round 2. I’ll probably feel like Kaka then, but I know I’ll get to smile with them around.

PPS: I’ll post a shot of my new hat as soon as I can find where the digital camera is hidden ... ugh!