Dear Person Who Stole My Hat,
Go ahead and say I asked for it.
Go ahead and say this is what I get for leaving the windows of my Mini Cooper open in the Famous Footwear parking lot.
Oh you miserable rat …
What? Were you teaching me a lesson by reaching in and grabbing my red and white bucket hat from the driver's seat headrest?
The Mini and I don't ask for much. We don't take more than we need. The hat looked good on me and when I wasn't wearing it, it looked good on the Mini. There was even a tiny Mini Cooper pin on it.
Who steals a floppy hat that you couldn't sell for a half-dollar at a garage sale? Did you take it just to be mean? You didn't take anything else, not the stack of CDs or the $5 in the ashtray. Nope, just the hat. Too bad it wasn't full of lice.
I hope that hat makes your coffee cold and your ice cream hot. I hope it gives you an embarrassing body odor problem. I hope that hat brings you bad luck. I hope--
Wait.
Maybe that's not quite right. No, it's not, it's not right at all. That's not who I am or who I want to be. Let me try this again. Let me take it from the top.
Here's a secret: I believe in magic. Not the rabbit-out-of-the-hat sort or the kind that compels weird peeps dressed all in black to do chants and buy vials of patchouli-scented oil, but the sort that really delivers. My magic says if you don't clutch your money too tightly, you'll always have enough. It makes your cat purr and your dog's leg pump the air when you scratch his belly.
There is this crappy holiday cartoon "Frosty the Snowman." The animation isn't very good and the music is irritating, but just five minutes ago, when I was typing about an embarrassing body odor problem, some of that magic I'm talking about wafted over me and made me think of that cartoon.
It's about a dumb magician who can't do any magic and probably went around taking worthless stuff out of Mini Coopers when he wasn't failing at doing dumb magic. One day he throws his magician's hat away and it blows in the wind and lands on this dorky snowman. The effing snowman comes to life and dances around and makes all the kids happy.
You've got a hat and I believe in magic, so what the hell, why not try it? Go ahead, put the Mini Cooper hat on. Think of it as taking the "e" off of "hate." Presto! You're left with a hat. Don't be shy. Slap it on. I’ll wait right here.
Did your hair grow two feet long? Did you instantaneously become ticklish? Did you get the urge to sit cross-legged? Or blast Iggy Pop and dance madly backwards? So do it.
Do all of it.
Look at the grocery clerk's nametag and say, "Clara is a wonderful name." Why not? It's true. Smile at the crunchy old bus driver. I promise he will smile back. Abracadabra! He is beautiful.
Gimme a dollar and I'll show you how to make it rain m&m's.
No, no, don't take the hat off now. You're just getting started. Take a big breath, fill your lungs all the way up. Then close your eyes and let it out as you open those peepers slowly. It's not your imagination. Detroit Avenue really is a rainbow and West 65th is a pot of gold. The old shoe shine man is Frank Sinatra and the lunch waitress is Betty Page. Of course those are real diamonds sparkling atop Lake Erie in the sunlight. Why don't they sink, you ask? It's the magic, you doof!
Calling you doof is more fun than calling you a miserable rat.
The falafel sandwich you're eating as you walk down 25th street tastes like the best thing you ever ate because it is the best thing you ever ate. And even though that guy sitting on the step can't play a tune to save his life, drop the change and crumpled up bills from your front pocket into his guitar case. Now turn the other cheek, baby, and I'll give you a kiss.
I can't stop laughing either.
Blow out all the candles or find a glittering star. Make a wish. But the flickering flame and star are just for show. The magic is in the wish.
What? You already knew that? Then the mojo is really smokin'.
Hey. I've changed my mind about the whole thing. Go ahead and keep the hat. When you're ready (don't worry, you'll know when you're ready), slip it over your driver's seat headrest. Leave all the car windows open while you go buy a new pair of shoes. Maybe you'll bring a snowman to life.
I just did.
A version of this essay originally ran on September 19, 2007, in my “Rainy Day Woman” column in the now-defunct Cleveland Free Times. It was one of my most successful efforts and wherever I revisit it, I remember why.
This piece was the impetus for The Epistolary and while some of the references are dated, the quiet message has never been more appropriate.
While I’m enjoying a little road trip, I hope you enjoyed this time-bending detour. See you next Friday.
Love, Erin
Totally loved starting my day with this piece, Erin. Thank you for the lesson in attitude shifting. You made shift happen.
Delighted to read this again!