Old Hats 12/05

Traditionally there are 4 separate Christmas celebrations in my family. One with Mom. One with Dad. One with Mom's side. One with Dad's side. The perks of a broken home. This usually works in my favor, so it never seemed out of the ordinary. Besides, statistically I am in the majority.

In 2005, our celebration with Dad included a game of poker. Dad raided Drew's hat collection and we all chose our favorites. It is always painfully obvious that he is missing from our celebrations, but that year his memory started becoming a part of things. I am a big dork when it comes to memories and I was inspired to document this bit of cheese. Queenie provided the artwork... she is a dork too.

They all sat around the makeshift table…a couple of crates supporting an old piece of wood.

There was Big Easy, the surly looking one who did not make eye contact very often, for when he did the shine off his glass eye would send a chill up your spine. He was the eldest of the bunch having seen many things in his lifetime – things that would make an ordinary man turn tale and run. He played this game of chance before and he was obviously the favorite to take home the pot.

To his left, perched on an old stump, was Backward Betty. She worried about appearing insecure, so she overcompensated with her patronizing laugh and the money she carelessly threw onto the table. She lit a long cigarette (to appear fancy), and held it until it burned down to a stump. The smoke added to the ambiance, but did nothing for her image.

Mittens was there – a young punk with something to prove. Her name was given to her in the joint (UWSP) because of her habit of lifting items from bars on the seedy side of town. She could take home all of the winnings… but would she be too headstrong?

Sitting next to Mittens was SPS (Saving Private Sarah). She sat with her head down – her tell was the big blue piercing eyes, the windows to her heart. She had the most riding on this game. She was supporting a farm of unicorns in the valley and the price of feed just went up.

The hats inspired the names and we actually called each other them that night. I love it when a spark of light comes back to our family, even if it comes in the form of utter dorkiness.