My father’s journey came to an end, and we buried him today.
For as long as I can remember, he truly enjoyed swag.
Me? I don’t really like logos or labels. Tool branded hats? T-shirts? Pens? He’d light up at the sight.
He’d wear them and it brought him joy. The next time we’d visit, “look what I’m wearing!”
I gave him a Harbor Freight hat a few months ago – shown above – and he immediately put it on. They sent 2 (thank you!), so I kept one for myself. I don’t wear hats often, but maybe I’d need it.
I also brought him my Milwaukee Pipeline hat a few months ago. It was on a shelf near him when I visited a week ago.
Last year I gave him this collection of Makita hats. If I recall correctly, these arrived with the MakTrak test samples. The variety was awesome! I almost kept one or two for myself.
I needed to send him off with a hat.
I didn’t want to drive a couple of hours to my parents’ house to look around for a suitable hat. I’m not ready to start going through stuff. I couldn’t buy him a Yankee hat. He loved the Yankees, but would say “don’t spend money on me!” I also didn’t want to task my mom, sister, or anyone else with finding a suitable hat.
So I searched around. I pass along most swag, and couldn’t find any hats – I already gave them all away (mostly to him). I did find a Milwaukee bump cap hat, but that’s not something I would have given him.
I have another Milwaukee hat somewhere, but he didn’t like fitted hats – he preferred snapback-style hats.
But then I remembered the extra hat that Harbor Freight had sent over along with some test samples – the one I kept in case I needed it. That’ll do. I don’t think he’d ever been to a Harbor Freight store, but that doesn’t matter.
The Harbor Freight hat would be perfect.
It would have drawn a smile. There would be no smile this time. He doesn’t need a hat anymore. But it made me feel just a little better to know he’d have one, forever, just in case.
I spoke to the clergyman yesterday, and my sister spoke to him before that. Apparently we both told him the same joke my dad would say. At the graveside service today, he remarked: “I hear this is a very popular place to be, people are dying to get in.”
