CAT ON THE HAT
“He dropped off some hats too,” the loader operator told me. Ordinarily I’m not overly enthused about a cap, even if it’s free, but this one was different… By “different” I mean my attitude toward one of the baseball caps with the logos on the front. Because this particular “different” one was almost identical to the very first one I’d ever bought for myself.
The years of struggle that I’ve come to cherish blew through my mind like a breath of fresh air. It took me back to the days of barely double digits to count the years I’d been stumbling around this part of the globe – the days of big dreams and desires to contrast my empty pockets.
I somehow managed to scrape together enough money to purchase the object of my longing at the blue collar central store named “Yellow Front”. They were known for selling Levi 501’s cheaper than anyone in town and had a proper selection of hats, the baseball cap kind.
The jet black cap wasn’t ideal for the Arizona sun, but there’s proof that I’ve long been guilty of choosing form before function. It wasn’t so much the deep black that I adored, it was the way the bright mustard colored logo contrasted it. It caught my eye the way a lure does a hungry fish.
I had no idea at the time what the logo meant, not that it mattered, it seemed to go hand in hand with cool… and what could be cooler than a “Cat On The Hat”?
I’d owned plenty of baseball caps with logos from the baseball teams I’d played on, but I’d never seen another cap that rivaled the first one that had the word “CAT” blazed in black letters amidst the golden rectangular patch stitched to the raven cap.
It wouldn’t be too much longer till I learned that “CAT” was the logo for “Caterpillar”; the massive public company that built excavating equipment that was used around the world to shape and form the earth’s crust for what the civilized world called “improvements”.
I had no idea as a boy that I would one day grow up to be smack in the middle of a world that was made up of machines that the old hat represented and ones like it.
I sported that old CAT hat through the years until the sun beat it like a baseball bat and turned it a weathered grey with frayed edges on the bill. But for all the luster that hat had lost, it hadn’t lost its appeal to me. Even when the boss man chided me for not knowing the proper way to turn my cap, and long before it was “cool” to wear it backwards, I wasn’t beginning to be deterred.
It still staggers my mind when I consider how much little things mean to folks that have close to nothing, they appreciate like it’s an art form.
I swim in a world of cynics but can’t point an accusing finger. It seems the more we get the more we take for granted. Occasionally the cynic gets a clinic… Mine was outdoors on a winter afternoon in the southwest desert. My guess is that it wasn’t a coincidence that it happened to be on a job site where the Caterpillar was chewing through the dirt behind me.
I reached out and took the CAT cap from his hand, “I’ll take this one,” I mumbled as I pulled it over my head… backwards… The men were a little surprised by my unfamiliar actions… but then they don’t know the story behind my CAT hat…
That goofy sideways grin that I sometimes couldn’t contain as a kid came back for a visit…
Audra Krell
Sunday, February 1, 2015 @ 7:24 pm
I always love how you take the every day and bring it to life. This story takes me back to my own moments where it seemed like something mundane, was one of the most special things in the world to me. Thanks for always being there Floyd, your readers (and friends) can always count on you to understand.
Cheryl Smith
Sunday, February 1, 2015 @ 9:59 pm
It’s funny how things can come to mean so much to us and hold their own significance in our lives….things that other people consider everyday and mundane. Thank you for sharing this story and for being such a blessing through your writing. God bless you. 🙂
Hazel Moon
Sunday, February 1, 2015 @ 10:40 pm
Your hat story was like discovering an old friend. (memories of a cap worn, loved and worn out.) It is amazing how little things can truly make us happy. Robert has a variety of caps given to him by our grandchildren. He loves to wear them when we go shopping. People often remark about his cap. Thank you for sharing your memories, on caps, machines, dreams, and taking us all back to yesterday.
Bill (cycelguy)
Monday, February 2, 2015 @ 3:31 am
I’ve never been one to wear hats. i wear a cycling helmet. I wear a hat if I go to a baseball game and am going to sit in the sun. I wore one when I played baseball. But have never been fond of wearing one. I have with a “P” for Pirates. 🙂 I have a RoadID one. With no hair though i know it is important to wear one, especially when cutting grass (I wear an old TREK one). our youth pastor wears one all the time (except Sunday am). poor guy. He will be bald soon. LOL Then again, you still have a full head of hair. When you get your hair cut, mind shipping some my way?
Barb Raveling
Monday, February 2, 2015 @ 7:51 am
Great story, Floyd. I was just teaching my 8th and 9th graders (I teach one class a week at the local Christian high school) the principle “show don’t tell” in writing and it occurred to me as I read your blog post that you’re a master at that principle. As I read your story, it reminded me of how I feel right now at this stage of my life. With my kids leaving the nest and after homeschooling for 22 years, I feel like a kid fresh out of college, just getting started, where the sky is the limit for what i can do. It’s kind of a fun stage of life, even if it does happen a little late as in my case. 🙂
Sharon
Monday, February 2, 2015 @ 7:55 am
OK, love the story and love the hat! And yes, I get how a hat can bring back memories. My grandpa had a tattered old hat that he wore fishing, and when he died, my brother asked my dad if he could have it. My dad thought he was nuts, but my brother wore that crummy, dirty hat all the time. My dad, who wasn’t particularly sentimental, could never understand it. He kept telling my brother that he’d be glad to buy him a new one.
Good memories you have shared here, Floyd. And good memories are the things that warm our heart.
GOD BLESS!
(I’ve got a favorite LA Kings hat – can’t decide if it makes me happy, thinking of last year’s Stanley Cup championship, or sad, considering how they’re playing lately!!)
Betty Draper
Monday, February 2, 2015 @ 11:02 am
Our son is a hat wearer…everyday…he loves his John Deer hat the best. Funny because he was not raised on a farm but it represents country to him. In fact he has built a reputation among his friend over his hat…building memories for his older years. Good post brother…amazing that something as small as a hat can spark a flow of profound words.
Jason Stasyszen
Thursday, February 5, 2015 @ 2:35 pm
Does a heart good to have these little affirmations in our lives, doesn’t it? Reminds us again that if we pay attention we see the goodness of God in our everyday lives. Thanks for the smile, Floyd. 🙂
Micah
Friday, February 6, 2015 @ 9:44 am
I can still remember how much I used to love when my mother had gotten to the end of a Fairy liquid bottle (a detergent used for washing dishes). Back then the bottles were made with thin plastic that me and my brother would take a pair of scissors to and use for all kinds of things from imaginary space ships to makeshift ant farms. When my mother would toss us one of those bottles it was like christmas. It makes me laugh just thinking about how excited we could get about something that would have been discarded otherwise. I guess you’re right, there’s something about how we learn to value stuff when we’re younger that doesn’t always carry through. Although then again, I do come across kids who are upset if they don’t receive the latest xbox/playstation/nintendo (delete as appropriate) at christmas. I guess ingratitude is something we can easily grow out of, or into. Gotta keep moving in the right direction with that one I suppose. On another note, I’m glad to learn I’m not the only one with a thing for baseball caps. And as for the hair, I’m liking the length a lot. I say it’s a Nazarite thing.
Chuck Allen
Sunday, February 8, 2015 @ 9:59 am
It’s funny how simple things like a cap can carry meaning to us, isn’t it? I’m glad you were able to get a new CAT hat to bring back old memories. I had a couple of pairs of colorful Airwalk sneakers when I was a teenager that held special meaning to me. Although, unlike a cool cap, I’m not sure I would wear them now even if I was given a pair. 🙂
June
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 @ 10:24 am
It’s funny what sparks a memory. Some things hold deeper meaning than others, and yet the rhyme and reason is not always evident at first. I’ve been deep in the memories lately, as nearly each object of my dad’s that I pick up sparks something. Some more profound than others. All good. Thanks for sharing, Floyd!