A Fashion Icon

And a random kindness

On Saturday evening my wife and I took our youngest daughter and her girlfriend out to Karaoke. Not to sing you understand, for that would be true torture for the poor audience, but because they have a really wonderful Chinese Restaurant in their city, and it just happened to be that we were there on Karaoke night in the bar.

I’ve written before that we’re bar people, and I guess our drive to avoid ill behaved children in restaurants means we’ll listen to some questionable singing instead.

It’s cold outside this time of year, so I wore one of my hats. A hat that I think it really cool, but everyone else seems to think slightly less of. An Effanem Crusher, in dark green. These are woodsman’s hats that were really popular up through the 1970’s. Unfortunately they are almost impossible to find now, but I’ve got a great local source.¹

They are wool, warm, almost indestructible under the harshest conditions, and can be rolled up when not being worn. I’m not sure if I can describe them as well as I can show them, so think this:

World War I, US Forest Service PNW Region Poster. Public Domain.

Or these:

Loggers, Pacific County, Washington. 1922. Public Domain

As you can plainly see, these hats are really fashionable!

We get into the bar, I take off the hat.

When all of the sudden, the daughter decides that she needs to wear it! Mrs. Bailey hands it over with an admonition not to hurt it. I’m not sure why she was worried that it could be hurt, she must have gotten it confused with one of my fancy hats.

But, the daughter decides that she looks good in it, and her girlfriend agrees. So, she added one to her Christmas List. But, a size smaller, and in black instead of green. I’ll stuff one under the tree for her of course, because she’s proven me to be a fashion icon!

The other thing that happened in the bar that night was a visit to our table from a really elderly gentleman. (Unlike the crusher hat at our table, he was decked out in a fancy cowboy hat.) The kids had complimented him and his lady on their singing, so he came by to tell us about how they met some years ago over Karaoke, and now they sing five nights a week.

I was struck by his manners, obvious kindness, and clear love for his lady. He was gentlemanly in a way that we should all aspire to be.

Yesterday I was in charge of caring for my oldest granddaughter. So, I stumbled out of bed at some ungodly hour, then drove her to third grade.

I got some work done through the day, and then it was time to pick her back up from school.

She hops in the truck and declares that she’s hungry. She always declares that she’s hungry when she hops in my truck, I think that maybe her mother and grandmother don’t feed the poor kid enough!

I ask her where she wants to go.

McDonalds she says.

So I take her to the bar for some real food.

I can do this for two reasons:

1. Because they have a little section of the bar cordoned off for ‘families.’

2. Because unlike many, she doesn’t behave like a monster in restaurants.

We have a great snack. Greasy burger and fries for me. Mac & Cheese and Tater Tots for her. (She thinks that they make wonderful Mac & Cheese at my dive bar.)

When we are finished, I ask for the bill, and there isn’t really a bill.

The bartender tells me that one of the elderly gentlemen who had been sitting at the bar paid for our lunch before leaving. I asked her why, she said it was his way of spreading holiday cheer, and he thought the kid was cute.

I think that sometimes it is really easy for us to look around at all the bad things happening in our world, and forget that most people, the vast majority of people, are good.

That we really are surrounded by good people.

I experienced just that over the past handful of days. In two bars, a hundred or so miles from each other. Good people, being nice.

In both cases, it really brightened my day. (Or evening, as in the first outing.)

And I believe that there is a lesson for all of us in that.

What can we do, right now, to brighten someone’s day?

1. https://www.madsens1.com/ If you want one, you’ve got to ask for a ‘Wool Crusher Hat.’