The hats that tell a birthday story!

My Dad is wearing his birthday hat today. Have you ever thought about all of the purposes hats serve. Some hats are there just for fun, some hats for protection and some are just symbolic and go with certain uniforms. My Dad has literally and metaphorically worn many different hats in his life. He has even worn a Benjamin Franklin hat (we'll get to that story later as it is kind of apropos with my Dad's life). As I sit and think about him today I marvel @ how diverse he is. He knows and can do anything. He is a very solid man who has been blessed with a keen mind. Something that many people are surprised by is that my Dad graduated with an art degree from BYU. Yes I guess you could say he is kind of "artsy fartsy". Most people (or shall we say some people who used to try and take me out on dates) were a little intimidated by his 6' 5" large frame but what they didn't know is that he is kind of a softy. If only those boys who I brought home knew this then Dad probably wouldn't have gotten the name "Mike Dogg". The name has since stuck even though the above Charger pants have been put to rest(thank goodness). Oh bless those pants, holes and all. Dad thanks for being secure enough with yourself to sport those babies around the house even if you thought the President might be knocking @ the door.

Now back to all of the hats my Dad wears. The first hat I think of is the very sweaty ball cap from all of his hard work he rendered throughout the years. I don't think there is a day gone by that he hasn't said, "I'm sweatin like a pig." Two of the only nice ball caps that I can remember that he has worn were one that had a silver star on it and one that said Benjamin Franklin on it.(Benjamin Franklin use to be the name of a mortgage company) He wore that Benjamin Franklin hat to Universal Studios once and when a few of us siblings were lost we found somebody who worked there to help us find our parents. When the Universal Studio worker asked what my Dad looked like we said, "he's really tall and is wearing a Benjamin Franklin hat." The man first looked @ us strangely and then told us well in that case, then he shouldn't be too hard to find. It wasn't until later that I realized the man probably pictured a loony man who dressed up in hats that came from a different century.(not too far off)

He then went through a Indiana Jones hat phase where whenever we went on any adventures the hat came too. If only he would have worn that hat when he tried to get my sister and I up for a hot air balloon ride @ the age of six. Something about that hat makes me feel adventuresome so I could have quite possibly went up in the balloon that day if the hat would have been there.




Even though he still wears all of the above mentioned hats, the hat that he is most recently wearing is what I call his "Bacca" hat. Bacca is what some of the grand kids refer to my Dad as. The Bacca hat is probably one of his best hats. The sweaty Dad ball cap has prepared him to transition nicely to wear the Bacca hat. He looks very distinguished and well seasoned when he wears that hat. I can't deny that he has been my Dad for a few decades now even though it was just yesterday I was @ the hardware store listening to Alan Parsons Project & Moody Blues while sipping an old fashioned sarsaparilla. What I can deny is that sometimes I am selfish and secretly wish that I could freeze my Dad back to the day when Thrifty ice cream was only a quarter and I could have him all to myself. I guess we are living the Plan and this is the natural progression but why do you have to get older Dad? On this day I will "let" you get older only because you do wear the Bacca hat very well and if you don't believe it then ask any one of your 10 grand kids. I'm pretty sure they think there has never been another man who wears the Bacca hat as well as you do. Love you Daddy! Now which hat did you wear when we suckered you into being the one to take us shopping. You know all of the sisters will agree that we would have taken you shopping over Mom any day. Thanks for being so fun. Happy Birthday!