Friday, August 8, 2008


Too Many Hats

Stress. If you’re human, you have some. But how do we know when we’ve got too much of it? By way of personal example, here’s a clue. Once after leaving a home that I was working on, I was driving down the road with my mind a crowded muddle when I suddenly had this panicky feeling that I had misplaced an important item. I called my painter back at the house in progress and asked him, probably a bit shrilly....

”Did I leave my car keys anywhere around there??”.
He responded, all too calmly I thought, with a rather amused, “Pamela, where are you?”
“Well, I’m about a mile down the road, although I don’t see why that matters”.
Again, oozing serenity, which was really irritating me no end.....”Are you driving?’
“Well, I’m not on my broom, if that’s what you mean, of course, I'm driving...uh, I'm drive....ing, oh, gee...never mind."

Sigh. Too much stress. When one is worried that one has left one’s car keys behind, and one is driving down the road at the time, one can safely bet one is under just a wee bit of stress.

My painter proceeded to tell me that, in his opinion, I was wearing too many hats at the moment and that perhaps I should remove one or two for the evening. How right he was, and is. In my closet, figuratively speaking, there’s the business woman hat - most likely some sort of chic hunter green fedora, perhaps with a feather in the brim. There’s the artist hat - a chartreuse beret, no doubt. The wife and doggie-mother hat - which is, oh, something akin to a wizard’s hat, soft and bejeweled, with embroidered stars, a pom-pom and the magical ability to light up unexpectedly. The running of the household hat - more like a helmet really, bright silver, only slightly tarnished. The appealingly horned Brunhilde hat, straight out of Wagner, just the thing for facing down recalcitrant clients and wearisome workmen. Then there’s the sun hat for gardening, the chef’s hat for cooking, the visor for running,... you get the idea. I know full well, when I attempt to wear all these at once, I’ve got to look a sight. It’s a balancing act that’s hard to maintain. That’s why, after these recent days when so many ideas have been banging round through my mind like bumper cars, and because like all good boys, Edward has had his prayers for cooler weather answered, I am taking off some of these blasted hats for the entire weekend.

Nothing but that wizard hat till Monday. It’s my favorite one anyway.

31 comments:

  1. What wonderful ways to describe the many hats you wear! I enjoyed this post very much Pamela, it was really entertaining!Have a great weekend.

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  2. Edward (and you) will be grateful to run bareheaded under the sun.

    Isn't it interesting how stress-free dawgs are? They greet you the same way every time you come home. They live in the moment. They don't panic over where their car keys are.

    Then again, they don't drive.

    That we know of!

    Have a fun weekend.

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  3. Even for someone who looks as lovely in hats as (I am sure) you do, the head needs to breathe! Good for you for giving yourself a break...

    Happy weekend,
    Christi

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  4. Love the way you describe all the hats you wear! Hope you`ve managed to take them all off except the one for the weekend :)

    tea
    xo

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  5. I like the description of the wizard hat the best anyway, Pamela, so I hope you wear it all weekend. Edward will be so pleased, too.
    I have been wearing my gardening hat a lot this week - tomorrow my mother and sister are visiting, and I am going to sit under the unbrella in the garden with them, and I might just go hatless!!

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  6. You are quite right that ding too much fries the brain.
    We all like to be busy and occupied but often tak on too much.
    My project this weekend is to do NOTHING!
    Enjoy your lovely dogs.

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  7. good for you! i know exactly what you mean about the many, many roles we women choose to play. at 55, i feel like i've just now started to fully realize my creative potential. so, there is no time to waste in spreading my wings to fly!! enjoy a relaxing weekend!!

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  8. Pamela, this is so true! Goodness, can I ever relate to what you've written here.. Enjoy this weekend with Edward, Apple, your husband, and wearing your bejeweled wizards hat...:-)...I've had the nurses hat on all week with sick children so I hope to shed that one this weekend...

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  9. Oh, I can certainly relate! Although, I wear so many fewer hats than I did when the kids were young.

    Cute story about your keys! :)

    Hope you are enjoying a very bare headed weekend!

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  10. Wow, that's definitely too much stress, but I can totally relate! I love the bit about your different "hats." We all need a break sometimes!

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  11. So true and sometimes just using the weekend to unplug is like taking a vacation. Hats off to you! Enjoy!

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  12. Pamela,

    I loved this post. It was very well written and entertaining.

    I remember my mother looking all over the house for her eyeglasses, when they were on her head the whole time. I think maybe she had too much going on in her head (literally).

    May you have a very enjoyable and relaxing weekend.

    Melissa

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  13. Your post is WELL PUT!
    Although you have a "hat face" , it's nice to see you without them today!

    Wishing you and all at the House of Edward a peaceful weekend!

    xo
    Constance

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  14. Pamela, I'm hearing you and I would say most women try to juggle way to many hats...As I was reading this, I had a perfect funny visual of you with all these hats on your sweet little head. Enough!!! Good idea that soft bejeweled Wizard's hat :)

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  15. You know, Pamela, ever since I started reading blogs, it began to strike me that the writing was, for the most part, better and of a much higher quality than one finds in the newspapers and magazines nowadays. And every time I read a newspaper or magazine, I am struck again by how much more interesting it is to read blogs. Your post today is the perfect example of what I mean by this. Better than any article I could find on the newstands today.

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  16. An excellent piece and one that can be readily identified with these days! Oh Pamela, I hope you're able to hang up all those hats this weekend and relax. Speaking of relaxing, I'm off on holiday for three weeks and will be away from Blogland. Look forward to catching up when I'm back. Have a fun weekend! ~Kalianne

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  17. This summer--and every summer I've been at my current job--are exercises in multiple-hat-wearing techniques. (So's every basketball season, and soccer season...I'm ready for a one-hat-only kind of job.)

    However, my hats have been hanging on their hooks this week--all but one. I'm on vacation, and I've been a writer every day. Not sure what the hat looks like, though!

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  18. this reminds me of the Aida broadway production song "Fashion's Always Been My Strongest Suit" where they bring out all the hats. Yep, take off the hat, the shoes. Heck, the only suit you need sometimes is your birthday suit.

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  19. I thoroughly enjoyed this post but my goodness, that is a lot of hats. Perhaps a month bareheaded in the Scottish Highlands is in order!

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  20. What a wonderful post - I love the way you have used the different hats to describe all the roles and duties in life that we have to deal with. Hope you are having a great weekend in the wizard hat:)

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  21. I was going to say the wizard-doggie-mother one sounds by far the most delightful! It would be fun to make such a thing for real, though it doesn't sound like you've got time!

    Have a lovely weekend.

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  22. I'm sure your hat choice is Edward's favorite as well.
    A little hint, try a day with no hat and be whatever you choose with the possibilities of changing on a whim!
    I keep coming back to the painting of yours with the girl in front of the trunk, I find it entrancing!
    Susan

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  23. So hope you weekend is progressing smoothly. Personally, I hope you've kept your sleeping hat on the most and had a really relaxing and restful time!

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  24. As the saying goes - if you want to get ahead, get a hat! x

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  25. Hope you had a lovely, quiet weekend.

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  26. Pamela,
    I have feeling you are teasing us all.

    You say you are a designer and artist, but how can we believe that when you write so well. Seriously, who are you....really? Some famous writer who pretends to be Pamela at home with her adorable dogs? (Come on, I dare you. Your secret is safe here)
    I hope that I'm right, because I would LOVE to go to the bookstore and pick up every book you've ever written. What a gift you have.

    If I'm wrong, well.....you SHOULD be a writer. Way too beautiful for me to only read when I'm "blogging" which by the way is a terrible word to describe such beautiful work.
    Big Fan,
    Kanela

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  27. I hope you're having a wonderful weekend. When I'm wearing too many hats I forget words and the family have a lovely game of charades. If I'm tired then hubby says it's like trying to do a cryptic puzzle with half a clue. LOL

    Love the sound of your wizard's hat.

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  28. This was fun to read ... and such a true description ofthe hectic lives we lead today.

    I hope you enjoyed your stress free and "wizard only" hat wearing weekend! :)

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  29. Thank you Pamela & Edward for the perfect poem about Hope. I am not that familiar with Emily Dickinson's poetry but the few poems that I have heard I've always found to be incredibly dark & beautiful ... as is this one. My exposure to her is really almost totally limited to the movie and most excellent novel Sophie's Choice by William Styron - a book I'm sure that you may have read, and if not I'd highly recommend it.

    merci mon amis and Miss Winnie sends big hugs to handsome Edward. xo S.

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  30. HAhah! I have found myself walking around the house many a time looking for my keys when they were in my hand the whole time! Lovely hat wardrobe you have!

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  31. Yes, exactly how I've been feeling lately. Mother, wife, daughter and niece to three elderly folks, maid, laundress, cook, shopper, fundraiser, gardener, dog mom, part-time accountant (during tax season no less--why did I major in accounting?!!!), soon to be grandmother and reader of wonderful, uplifting blogs like yours!
    Teresa

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I love to read your comments! Each and every one! Though I'm always reading your comments, I may not respond in the comment section. If you want to write me directly, you may do so at pamela@pamelaterry.net. Thank you for reading!