« N Does Not Equal B | Main | Oh, October »
September 27, 2008
I Left My Hat in San Francisco
The summer of 1977 my family took a two-week vacation. We drove, my parents and four kids, ages 11, 10, 9, and 5, from Chicago, south and west across the US to Los Angeles.
We went to Disneyland, and there I bought two hats, exactly the same - one for me and one for my best friend. I had my name stitched on one, and Michelle stitched on another.
The next day, or maybe two days later, don't recall, the family went to San Francisco. One may think the stench of Fisherman's Wharf would be what stuck in my 9 year old head.
No.
I was proudly wearing my Disney hat when we got on the boat to tour Alcatraz. My mom said I should take my hat off because it was windy.
I, being 9, didn't want to take my hat off.
So Mom gave me one of those little folded-up plastic snap-under-your-chin rain bonnets to put over my hat to hold it on.
Being 9, I decided I looked like a dork, so I took the bonnet off when I was out of my Mom's sight.
And, of course the wind instantly took my hat, carrying it up above me, floating on the wind, before dropping it down into the ocean.
And of course I began to shriek as only a wronged 9-year old can.
So on the drive home, Mom had out her little sewing kit and ripped the stitching out of Michelle's hat.
Dad would start to sing, "I left my hat in San Francisco," and I would bawl.
I'll admit that any time he did that for the next several years I would bawl.
So this past week, I found myself standing on Fisherman's Wharf, looking out at Alcatraz.
I called my Dad.
I told him where I was, and asked him whether he thought I should try to find my hat.
He laughed really loud, and we talked about that trip so many years ago. He was still laughing when he asked whether I remembered him singing that song.
I said of course, and that all these years later it now makes me laugh too.
Written by Angela Tanner. September 27, 2008 01:14 PM