Sometimes people’s life paths cross for the most unlikely reasons.
Last weekend, my wife Wendy and I made some new friends – because I wore “the right hat.”
As we sometimes like to do, we decided to pay a visit last Saturday to the BARn at the Piney River Brewing Co. As we prepared to leave the house, I put on my dark blue St. Louis Cardinals hat. But as I walked toward the door, I stopped in my tracks.
I’m a graduate of Washington State University, and the Cougar football team was hosting Stanford that night in a game to be broadcast on ESPN. I was pretty excited to watch the game because the Cougs are good again this year (finally) and I was convinced they were going to take down their highly-ranked guests.
“Wait, I’m wearing the wrong hat,” I said.
I went to the closet and put back the Cards hat and put on the red one with the distinctive, white WSU logo on the front. I’m a bit biased, but the logo is often said to be one of the coolest and most unique in the nation, with the three letters combining to look like a big cat with its mouth open.
Anyway, we went to our destination and proceeded to play some Yahtzee and watch American Pharoah blow away the field in the Breeders Cup Classic in Lexington, Ky. (the final race or the colt’s stellar career). When I stood up during the course of our visit, a man approached me and pointed at my hat.
“What’s that symbol?” he asked.
I think he knew the answer, but wanted to confirm it.
“Washington State University,” I said. “I went there many moons ago.”
The man pointed at another man seated at a picnic table on the outside deck.
“He’s from Mukilteo,” he said.
Mukilteo is north of Seattle, near Everett.
“No way,” I said.
I went outside, took off my hat and held it out in front of him.
“Big game tonight,” I said.
He smiled and laughed.
“Wazzu?” he said.
“Yeah, I’m a Coug and grew up in western Washington,” I said.
Wendy and I and introduced ourselves and found out that Dave, the man who approached me, lives in Eminence and works for the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and the gentleman from Mukilteo was named Clarence. The four of us proceeded to engage in hours of good conversation and we eventually invited them to our house for dinner.
They accepted and we kept gabbing till after 9 p.m.
Somewhere along the way, Clarence said he ran a bed-and-breakfast adjacent to the Mukilteo Ferry dock (that’s the boat that takes people and vehicles from the Everett side of Puget Sound to Whidbey Island, home to a Naval airbase and lots of waterfront residences).
“And now that we’re friends, you’ll have to come and stay for free,” he said.
Sweet.
“We will definitely take you up on that offer my man,” I said.
Wow, a new connection near my old stomping grounds in Western Washington and another in Shannon County. Wendy and I were half giddy when the men left.
And it wouldn’t have happened if I had worn “the wrong hat.” No way Dave comes up to me if I’m wearing an STL cap.
“It’s a good thing you changed hats,” Wendy said.
“Yep,” I said. “I wore the right hat for sure.”
Whether you want to call it providence or coincidence, the fact is it came down to a piece of headgear. I prefer to believe that God had me put on the right hat.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.