Sean -- New Jersey

This is Sean. He used to be “Sean-pie” till he got big. His mom is my #1 best blogging and FB friend. Today is her birthday, too. Say, “Happy Birthday, Sean’s mom.” 

I digress. 

Sean’s Pop-Pop gave him this hat six years ago. Well, Sean, full of the most gracious manners on earth, bought Pop-Pop a replacement hat for his next birthday.  Now Sean wears this hat every chance he gets!  (You can visit Sean and Pop-Pop here, back in 2008.)

And his next chance to wear his awesome hat is a school dance. Sean specially selected all the cool clothes you see here for that school dance.
 

Who’s the lucky girl, Sean? She’s gonna love your tie, too.

Sally Rose -- Missouri

My friend Sally. A prolific writer and wearer of
cowboy hats whether she needs 'em or not.

“I can wear a hat, too, Paul!” she yelled when she saw me.

“I see that!” I said. “And you look good in it, too,” I told her. “Lemme take your picture for My Hats Blog.”

So she let me take her picture while she was working at our writers’ conference Check-In desk last November.

“Oh, you know, I grew up in Oklahoma and wore a cowboy hat all the time. Moved up here and only wear it once in awhile now. But I like your hat, Paul.”

(I like it when people say, 'I like your hat, Paul.')

I see her every month at other meetings. We’re good friends and she always finds a way to tease me about something. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Jeannine -- North Dakota

My niece Jeannine had a major flashback recently. She found this picture of herself from back in the late 60s/early 70s when she was a kid. Her family (my brother’s family) lived near San Francisco CA during the height of the Haight-Ashbury “Human Be-In.” I think she has always longed to “be-back-in” there. Well, she sure has the hat for it.

I never saw Jeannine with such long, thick blond hair. Lucky her. It’s still a beautiful blond color, but not as long. Not long after that “bad hippie” influence on his kids, my brother brought them all to The Heart of America. 

Jeannine now lives in North Dakota. (Brrrr!) She and her husband have started sending me a railroad calendar for Christmas every year. 

Railroad calendars are almost as cool as hats.
Can you guess what month that is? It's 2014.

Vania — Kansas

Vania is my pretty friend. Her mom is also my pretty friend. I've known them both for quite a few years. They are part of our church family and Vania has been waiting patiently for me to take her picture and post it here. 

They stopped by the house recently and what an opportunity! She posed for 20 minutes while I ran the bill up on my camera. I let her pick the picture she thinks is best. It was the first one we took. This is it. 

She wants to go to rock concerts. I think she should be a model.

Ain’t she a pretty one -- wearing my hat. 

Kerry--Lindsey's Mom

You may remember my last hat picture post of Lindsey in her white cowboy hat.(Scroll down a little.)

This is Lindsey’s mom, Kerry. Here she is dressed up for Halloween in the only Edgar Allen Poe hat you’ll probably ever see. She gave me permission to take this off FB and publish it here. So I did. It reminds me of one of those cameo pendants.

Kerry is remarkably talented. She's a designer and an artist (see the photo of Lindsey’s eye) of the highest degree.

She’s also a friendly, happy greeter at our church with an easy smile and a twinkling eye.

(A funny thing happened at church yesterday. As a greeter, Kerry had to wait a few minutes after the service began before entering the sanctuary. She usually quietly slips into a back row. But the place was pretty crowded. She finally found a row that was as close to the back as she could get: the front row!)

Stop by our church sometime. Sorry, but she probably won’t be wearing this hat.

Lindsey and Me--Missouri

Lindsey and I attend the same church. Her mom is a greeter there and you might see them both when you come to visit.

A couple of years ago, Lindsey took a liking to my white hat. “I like your hat,” she said one Sunday, kinda cute-like.

“Wanna try it on?” I asked. “It’s kinda dirty.”

“That’s okay,” she said with her head cocked just sideways enough to be kinda cute-like again.

“Here you go,” I said and let her put it on. It was too big on her head, but she didn’t mind. She whirled around to show her mom. The hat didn't turn. Lindsey adjusted it. Mom just stood there smiling, kinda mom-like. I felt like I was about to lose a hat to one of my friends.

“Let me take it home and clean it up, and then I’ll bring it back and give it to you next week.”

“It’s okay,” she told me kinda sing-song like. “I really like this hat.” 

Her mom will tell you that I was undone. I haven’t seen that hat for two years.

Until this past Sunday. We snared our professional photographer who took this great picture of us. 

Her mom, a professional artist and designer drew the butterfly on Lindsey’s eye. I included this pic, too, so you can see what happens when Lindsey smiles. She lights up everyone and everything around her.

It's good to have friends like Lindsey. Ain't she purty-like?