Red Hatting

In June I was manning a table at the local Arts Festival when I saw a group of women walk by wearing red hats and purple tops (to be fair, one was wearing a pink hat and a lavender top). While I have heard of the Red Hat Society, I had never seen them in action. Years ago a friend scoffed when her mom joined a local group -- which left me with the impression 70 and 80 year olds red hatted, not my contemporaries.

One of the women gave me her card and said if I was interested, I could reach out to her. I soon learned she is the Queen Bee for the group, and that the group is called East Coast Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (even typing that, it is a long name). Queen Bee Sue quickly returned my email, we struck up conversations via email and text. 

And I joined.

And I'm glad I did.

On my birthday she hand delivered a card from the group. None of my other friends did more than send me a Facebook birthday greeting or text.

Sue organizes events all the time. She feels Covid might come back and we'll have to hide again, so in the meantime we should do as much as we can (with an emphasis on staying outside). Others are encouraged to arrange events for the eight of us, but she is the one who puts the most umph into it. I suggested the sunflower day, and she ran with it.

Upon my first phone call with Sue I felt I found a kindred spirit. We just clicked. The women, though not all the same generation, are supportive of each other. That really matters.

I try to aim for one event a month because I do have other things happening in my life.

So far I went with them to:

Princeton University's Prospect Gardens in August:

Talk like a Pirate Day in September: (Because it was my birthday month I could flip my colors -- purple on the head and red on the shoulders)

Sunflowers in October:

No arguments or eye rolls or whines when someone says she wants to take a picture. That night Sue updates our group Facebook page (which I then steal). It is fun being around a group of women not worried about being silly.

As for Tara in pink and lavender, when she turns 50 we will have a "red-uation" for her. Looking forward to it. As she has a daughter who is a senior in high school, she is the one I am bonding with the most. I am enjoying meeting everyone in small doses. Next month five of us are going out for tea. I think I need to find a new hat in the meantime as my tiny one fell apart.