Hat Box

"Mom, are you having a nice day?" my son, Greg,  spoke over the  phone.

"Yes, I'm actually in Stillwater, looking for a birthday present for Allison," I said.  His daughter's 21st  birthday would be in a few days, and was I looking for leg warmers.  I'd seen some cute ones recently, but I just found out the store here was out of them.

"Oh, that's great!" Greg said.  "You know what she really wants?  A hat.  She was looking for one when she went with me to Oklahoma City the other day."  When I asked what kind, he said, "A fedora.  A feminine looking fedora with a narrow brim."

I could see a selection of women's hats on the wall in the accessories department across the store, so I thanked him and went to browse through them.  I found several cute hats, but I wasn't sure what a fedora looked like.  I was pretty sure it wasn't a cloche, though one I picked up was pretty in raspberry felt. Suddenly I spotted what Greg seemed to be describing. It had a narrow brim and was decorated with silver studs circling the base of the crown.

"Could you tell me if this is a fedora?" I asked the sales associate.  "What do they look like?" I questioned further.  He said he had no idea, but he took it and went to check with a lady who knew more about hats.  When he came back, he reported that it was a fedora, although his supervisor said they usually had wider brims.  "Then this is  what I want," I said decidedly. 

Today was Allison's birthday, and we were invited to come over and have supper and birthday cake with their family.  The hat was still in the bag on the bureau in the bedroom waiting to be wrapped.  I didn't have a hat box, so I bought tissue paper, thinking I could make a pouffy parcel, accommodating the hat and adding a bit of mystery.  That was unsuccessful, so I looked around for a box, finally spotting one that was the right height and only a little too big when I surrounded the hat with tissue.  It made a large, festive present.

The little kids were excited about the gifts and kept urging their big sister toward my box that she left tantalizingly for last. Her delighted smile told me my granddaughter loved the sophisticated black hat, smart and stylish on her head as she modeled it for us.  "Is that all?  A little hat?" the six-year-old frowned, looking expectantly for something more. "In that big box?"  she gestured incredulously.  We explained  that the box had to be roomy, but to her, a big box meant a big gift.

Alerted by several people on Facebook, one a teacher, I just looked out at the gorgeous moon, glowing with a ring around it.  I learned that the effect is created when light is refracted from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.  Quite a show!  Now that's a big gift in a big package!  I hope Beth is up to see it!