You better not lose this hat
By Sheila Donnelly/Austin Daily Herald

This all started with a hat.

My brother Pat, who is the oldest sibling of 11 in the family I grew up in, left his Greek wool fisherman hat at my son Danny's house last Memorial Day. Danny gave the hat to me to return to Pat. The hat sat on a dresser in my bedroom all summer.

A week before my daughter Mary's wedding, Pat called Danny and said he wanted to make sure that Danny brought the hat to the wedding so he could finally get it.

Danny phoned me quite irritated that I still had Pat's hat.

Danny said, "Look, I gave you the hat to give to Pat three months ago. This is upsetting to me that you didn't follow through."

"I forgot about the hat. I have been so busy this summer. When he comes to the wedding I will give Pat his hat," I said.

Two days before the wedding, my daughters Molly and Bridget were goofing around trying on clothes and Molly put Pat's hat on was prancing and dancing around the house in it.

"Don't lose that hat. That's Pat's hat. I will get killed if you lose it. Put it back on my dresser. I have had it since Memorial Day. Danny will get really angry if Pat doesn't get it back," I warned.

Well, Molly didn't put it back. She placed it on a pile of clothes and

I misplaced the hat in my bedroom. We were storing everything we didn't want on the main floor in my bedroom during the wedding doings.

Right after the ceremony Pat came up to me and said, "I heard you have my hat."

"Yeah, yeah, it's in my bedroom. I'm sure I can get it for you," I answered.

We had Mary's wedding reception at our farm and when we got home I went to find the hat, but my bedroom had been turned into a nursery for all the babies at the wedding. I asked Molly twice to help me find Pat's hat.

Molly said, "I'm not looking for his hat. We're having a wedding."

Pat came up to me several times at the reception and asked me if I had his hat.

I ran up to look for the hat in my bedroom a couple of more times, but there were just too many people and too much was going on. When Pat was leaving he party, he asked me again if I had found his hat and I said I would, get it to him, but it was too hard to find it in my bedroom when there was so much activity going on.

The next morning, I moved a few items in my bedroom and lo and behold, I found Pat's hat. I gave the hat to my sister Kate to give to Pat and told her all the trials I had gone through with the hat. She said that she couldn't believe that he had asked me about the hat over and over at the wedding.

Her brother-in-law, Martin, who was visiting from England overheard our conversation and said that he would like to take the hat on a journey and e-mail photos of the hat to Pat of the places he went.

He would let the hat tell the story.

Last week, after a couple phone calls from Pat on the whereabouts of his hat, he received the first e-mail and photo attached of his hat.

Pat e-mailed Martin back and wrote that he didn't like some bimbo playing around with his hat. The hat replied that were no jobs in England and he would be coming home soon. Pat rang me up irritated about the whole situation. I could hear his wife in the background loudly proclaiming that the hat cost $45 and he'd better get it back.

I didn't tell Pat who had the hat when he asked me. The hat can tell him soon enough.