One Monday in October...

Not just any Monday, but the day my first child was to come into the world. Yes, it was on Monday the 21st. day of 1974 that Jennifer Marie was born. I remember vividly that morning. My sister and Mom were going about their normal routine. They were getting ready to go preaching. I was still in bed when Janet cried out that her water bag had broken. We called my mother down by us and before you knew it, we were on our drive to St. Mary's hospital in the north side of the city. We lived in the southwest side at that time.

Well, there we were at the hospital. Jan was admitted since there was no doubt she would have the baby on that day. My mother and sister waited for a while and then they left. I stay, of course. After a couple of hours the Doctor came and told me that there was a problem. I still recall the sinking sick feeling that came over me. Was my wife, my girl who I loved so very much, in danger. Was she going to die? Was our unborn child in danger? Was I going to lose one or both of them? All these thoughts ran through my head at 100 miles and hour. I did not want to lose either one of them, but I felt so small, not knowing what to do. The Doctor then proceeded to tell me what the issue was. Jan was not dialating properly, hope I spelled that word correctly. Anyway, if things did not improve soon, then Jan would need a "C-section". Boy was I scared! Jan was also, as you could imagine, very frightened. We loved each other and we wanted to be together, and we wanted our baby to be born ok. Well, it seemed like time was standing still while at the same time everything was happening so quickly.

Well, the dreaded moment came. The Doctor came and told me that they could not wait any longer without placing the baby in danger. So, I signed the papers so that they could perform surgery. I tried to keep a calm look for Jan's sake, but we knew each other so well, she knew how I felt.

It seemed like an eternity and all those crazy thoughts ran through my mind over and over. Finally, I was told that my baby was born. She was a girl. I was so happy but still worried since I had no info on Janet's condition yet. I soon heard she was fine. of coursse she would need to go to recovery. I remembered the Nuns rolling my little girl to the nursery. I wanted to hold her so bad, but rules were much different back then. I could not even be in the same room until much later.

We named her Jennifer, after the girl in the movie love story. All my prayers to God had been answered. Not only did I get to keep Jan in my life, but now we had a daughter. She was as beautiful as her mom and they shared the same green color in their eyes. They were the greatest things to happen to me in my youth....

Today's weather...

Rain, wind and cold. How I remember as a child waiting for the bus on a corner in weather like today's. As you may already know, there were no bus stop shelters. The most you could hope for was a phone booth with all the glass still in place. Store owners were not likely to allow folks to wait inside unless they were actively shoppin. I recall going to the store with my mom and just thinking of the moment the bus would arrive and we could get warm, and a little dry. This was the way it was back then. I am sure that for some today who do not own a car the situation is similar.

Getting home was great. I would get out of my wet clothes and stand by the floor vent to warm up. Getting home and feeling safe made it all worth it.

You know that as I think of it all, such times help you to appreciate how far we have come and how much further we can still go....

Hatitude....

Think I am kidding? Go to Google, or any search engine, and type in hatitude. It is here to stay! I am sure for some people it has always existed, but it is now being embraced by many.

What is it? Well, it is something different for each individual. It applies to both men and women. Some adorn a favorite dress, outfit or suit with a certain hat. Others just wear any hat cause it makes them feel good about themselves. Some may want to copy the past hat weare's, such as Sinatra, Bogart and the Mob. Others of us, however, enjoy the mystic feeling which comes with owning and wearing a vintage hat. When I put on my fedoras I wonder where each one has been If they could talk what a story they would tell. I also wonder how proud the original owner was when he bought and wore this particular fedora. For some of my hats I do know a little about their past, but for the majority, I just know the age of the hat. One of my latest finds is a black Richmond Brothers fedora which was purchased in 1954 by a lady for her husband. This hat came with a red feather, which it still has, and the husband felt it was to loud. So he left it in the box and never wore it. There daughter was cleanig up after the mom died and she came across the hat, She asked her father if he still wanted it and he said she could have it. She did some research and found it to be vintage so she put it up for auction on EBAY. I won that auction. She sent me the hat and it's original box which still had the tissue paper inside. I gave the box to my dad with a different hat inside. You may think that anyone can come up with a story to sell something, and I agree. However you cannot put the gold lettering inside the hat or the year on the box. Oh yeah i ALSO got the original price tag inside the hat. i don't consider myself a collector, I just enjoy owning and wearing my old hats. It is my hobby.

While I do have hatitude, I won't wear a fedora which has a brim larger than 2'. All my fedoras have a brim of 2'' or less. I guess just how that man felt out of place with the red feather, I feel the same about wide brims.

Hatitude, yes i HAVE IT AND i INTEND TO WEAR IT PROUDLY. wHEN THE GLAMOUR AND FAD WEAR OFF FROM ALL THOSE WHO HAVE JUMPED ON THE BAND WAGON OF WEARING FEDORAS, THOSE OF US WHO WEAR THEM FOR THE WAY THEY MAKE US FEEL ABOUT OURSELVES, WILL CONTINUE TO WEAR THEM WITH HATITUDE....