Column: Dude, where's my hat?

My hat is gone and with it more than I expected. I liked the company and liked the hat. Over time it bexcame the hat. I don’t remember exactly when I bought the hat because relationships with hats don’t usually start off remarkable.The earliest picture I have of it is in 2017, so yeah, the hat wasn’t that old, but it doesn’t take long for a hat to become part of the routine and endure everyday use and outdoor abuse. If you’ve had a hat for ten years, and it still looks reasonably new, you either don’t live in southeast Alaska, or your outdoor adventures are making it from the parking lot to the grocery store.A hat is better aged by seasons. August of 2017 was two and a half deer seasons ago. Hundreds of hiked miles ago. Thousands of twigs, branches, bushes and brush patches ago. It absorbed sweat on hot days, then was cleaned by the inevitable incessant rain of southeast Alaska...See full column at:https://www.juneauempire.com/news/when-a-hat-isnt-just-a-hat/