The Red Hat Society And a Funeral

Sort of an odd juxtaposition; a society of older women devoted to having fun and the death of one of our members. I didn't know Eva McGuire that well. She didn't come to a lot of functions but when she did she always had fun and she was fun to be around. I didn't know that she had diabetes; I just remember her saying to me that her doctor wanted her to lose weight. Her family found her on the floor of her house. She had been dead for two days. I thought she was probably in her 80s. She was 70; would have been 71 next month. It's a terrible disease.

Our debate among the Red Hatters today was do we wear our hats to a memorial service or not. In the end we decided not to but we did deck ourselves out in our finest Red Hat Society jewelry. I have earrings, bracelet and pin which I work on my sleeve.

This group teaches all of us that it's never too late to have fun. My first lunch with them was at the Olive Garden in Roseville. I ordered a salad with dressing on the side and a diet coke. The woman next to me ordered tiramisu and a glass of cabernet. She looked at me and said, "at a certain point in your life it is good to break the rules." I called the waitress back and changed my order to Tiramisu and a glass of chardonnay.

The hats we wear are outrageous like the ones pictured here. I made mine because my head is so large, plus I have a lot of hair. I'm thinking about remodeling it to make it even more out there. Dykewife's posting today got me thinking about all of this. Women have so many images that we are told to live up to; none of them necessarily good for us as human beings. With the Red Hat ladies I can be as outrageous as I want. The opposite of conforming is acting out. Well, I've done my share of conforming; now I like to act out.

I also thought today about my mother's birth date. She was born exactly one day after women in the United States got the right to vote (Aug. 28, 1920). She was born to it; my grandmother was not. It's truly amazing to me how long women have been subjugated to the society of men. We have much more to offer to the world. Well, I'll get down off my soapbox now. The turtle is returning to our driveway in a little while. He's bringing sushi. He got as far as the Walmart parking lot last night. He left the USB cable for his Trio on my desk. I sent him an e-mail about it; that's when I learned that he was only 10 miles away. But I do get to see Katie again.