“Heritage-dust to dust.” My dad was not part of the hat generation, he was a cap dad. He did, however, have the traits that are reflected in each of my Heritage pieces and I do see glimpses of him when I look at them. This is one of the two hats I worked on during his last weeks of life. The week after he passed with a large hole in my heart, we poured the bronze. When I broke off the shell I was not really surprised to see the large hole in the heart of the crown.
Last week I completed the metal work on the piece and this week my siblings and I will celebrate his life, as he requested, with a simple bar-b-que in the feed store warehouse. It won’t be your normal wake, with guest dressed in formal black jackets and pants. We will all be in jeans, boots, or tennis shoes and he would like that. My sister and I will decorate the tables with two of the things he loved: tomato plants and footballs. We will drink beer, eat texas bar b que, and share memories and his love. He may not have worn a hat but he did leave a hole in this one.
