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Jack’s Hat

 My Mum, in her on-going project of ‘getting-rid-of-stuff-so-someone-else-won’t-have-to-do-it-when-I’m-gone’, FaceTimed last week.

‘Do you remember Jack’s hat?’ she said. ‘The one with the green bobbles on it?’

I said yes, I did indeed remember the hat which my sister, Jackie, enjoyed wearing when she had lost her hair through chemotherapy. In fact, I remember there were three she favoured : the green bobble one, a floppy blue velvet confection, and a white one with a large stiff brim that wouldn’t look amiss at a summer garden party. 

‘Well,’ said Mum. ‘I don’t know what to do with this hat. I shouldn’t really be hanging on to it after all these years, but I don’t really want to just throw it out. Do you understand? Does that sound silly?’

‘Yes, Mum,’ said I. ‘I know what you mean and no, it isn’t silly. Send it to me. I’ll look after it.’

And Mum was very pleased with this offer, saying she was hoping I’d say I’d look after it, and by the end of the week it duly arrived in the post and I became Guardian of Jack’s Hat. 

Here is Jackie wearing the hat, back in May 1992 when the pop group ‘Right Said Fred’ came to visit the hospital unit she was being treated at…


‘Right Said Fred’ was hot property in the pop world at the time. They shot to fame in 1991 with a number one hit, ‘I’m Too Sexy’ and, if I remember rightly, they’d just had a hit with ‘Deeply Dippy’ from their album ‘Up’ when they came for a visit. What I mostly remember was how giggly and excited we were to meet them, how funny and friendly they were, and how thrilled we were with all the merchandise they brought with them to give us. Thoroughly nice chaps. And in the photo, you can see Richard Fairbrass, the lead singer, wearing Jackie’s white hat! 

When Jackie was in hospital she was given a large teddy bear, I’m not sure by whom, which was passed on to me when she died over 31 years ago. I called the bear ‘J.B’ (Jack’s Bear) and he’s been with me ever since. He is a good bear to hug in a crisis. I didn’t want to fold up Jack’s Hat and put it in a drawer. I thought, ‘I bet J.B would look great wearing Jack’s Hat.’ What do you think?



Comments

Anonymous said…
J. B. looks fabulous with Jack’s hat! Very appropriate. I applaud your mum. We should all be doing that. If for nothing else than lighten the burden of every day life. We once were at a yard sale, bantering and bartering away, when we left they tried to give us something we had been joking about and said; “But it is free!”. There is always a cost associated with stuff, free or not. You could hear the tires screeching as I drove away!
KJ
15 January 2024 at 15:13
Denise said…
Thank you for your kind words, KJ. I, too, believe there is too much ‘stuff’ in our lives and it’s all too easy for ‘stuff’ to become clutter and for clutter to become overwhelming. I’ve adopted the ‘one thing in, one thing out’ rule. In fact, if I can do one thing in, two things out, so much the better!!
15 January 2024 at 15:25
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