January 15: National Hat Day

Today was National Hat Day - an honest and upstanding celebration of the majestic hat.  Mostly, it was an excuse to wear a hat in an otherwise professional place of business.  Justin and I took on different tasks - he wore several hats - going for volume - and I went for absurdity by wearing my best Michigan winter monstrosity at work all day.

See, this is not one of those holidays that breeds a lot of introspection or contemplation - I mean, I'm sure we could've meditated on how all people 'wear different hats throughout their lives' or some other bullshit.  BUT WE DIDN'T.  SO THERE.  Besides, there isn't a long and storied history with deeply held traditions or anything so we totally got to call the shots.  It is, without a doubt, the most straightforward and easy to understand holiday we've had all year.  It is National Hat Day.  Today we wear hats.  Mostly, I LOVE the fact that this holiday fell on a Wednesday, because it was....

HAT DAAAAAAAY.  YEEEAAAAAAHHHH!

I picked my least professional looking hat with the primary goal of seeing just how long my coworkers would take me seriously wearing it.  I made it through my first meeting unscathed for two reasons -- it was with team members to whom I could simply explain the project and because they're cool people.  Other coworkers strove for politeness, but clearly believed I had lost my mind.  I was asked the exact same question - as in verbatim and with the same intonation - no fewer than six times.  

Coworker: *looks at me*, *sees hat*, *attempts to ignore*, *cannot ignore and begins staring*

Me: Hi, [coworker], how are you?

Coworker: Goooooooood... umm... so... umm... are you cold?

Seeing the pattern, my answers got steadily snarkier throughout the day.

1st: Explained the holiday politely and went about my business.

2nd: Explained the holiday more briefly and tried to slip away.

3rd: "I just like hats"

4th: "Hats are for winners"

5th: "Yup"

6th: "Nope, burning up.  Why?"

For the most part, everyone's reaction was highly predictable.

Except Kevin, who is basically the paparazzi.

For his part, Justin had a much less eventful day.  He changed into four different hats over the course of the day and had the sexiest hat head in the history of hair.  But honestly - it was pretty chilly outside in Houston.  If I weren't inside, in an office building and (theoretically) attempting to pass as an adult, I think I could've flown under the radar as well.

Not sure how this one avoided commentary though...

National Hat Day was a lot of fun - it was easy, lighthearted and goofy.  In that sense, it was the ideal holiday - a day about celebrating happiness for happiness sake.  So it didn't really matter that there weren't set traditions or a long history behind it - it was pure and simple and joyful and that doesn't suck at all.