HATS

Today the Broken Arrow Christian Women's Club started collecting hats. Some very talented ladies are going to use them to decorate a meeting place next week. Hats of all colors, shapes, & fabrics showed up. Straw hats, velvet hats, ball caps, and cone-shaped birthday hats were just a few I spied piling up in that living room. I recall that it hasn't been that long ago that women wore hats all the time. I've got an attic full of some old pictures to prove it, and who can forget Eleanor Roosevelt in those atrocities. A couple of generations ago Eleanor and no other well-dressed woman would go anywhere without her hat and gloves. Better yet, I might try to find teenager and take her to the attic with me for a look at those old black and whites! That would be an experience worth my time. Styles of long ago are hilarious! And I'm sure future generations will be laughing at us when the scrapbooks are hauled out for an afternoon laugh. There are some pictures of me and my high school friends all decked out in our mini-skirts that are particularly disgusting. I'm wondering why our parents allowed us to go out the door with those short skirts and white boots! EGAD! And how about "goth"? When will those young girls realize they look like DEATH, with black clothes, nails, and white faces. Nothing appealing there.
Oh, well, styles change as often as the Oklahoma wind. And after having gone shopping for a dress today I'm hoping the "wind" changes soon and the designers and buyers will realize that we've been through that "polyester print" already. It was bad in the 60's and it's still bad! The "garment district" experts sure know how to get our attention. They drag some old fabrics out of the history books, declare it "new", and we fall over ourselves to acquire it.
Well...I used to anyway. Being "in style" isn't as important after age 50...comfort reigns.
Wouldn't it be nice if all that time, energy and money were directed to the person "within" the clothing? Wouldn't it be nice if "first impressions" involved character? I supposed that will never happen, after all, it STILL takes me a while to get past Eleanor's hats to understand her heart. And it's hard to not physically wash that black lipstick off that teenagers face. I MUST remember: what's on the inside REALLY is what counts. And tonight I'm thanking God that I don't have to wear a hat to Wal-Mart!