Gone with the Wind

I lost my favorite hat this morning.

The hat that came from my bachelorette party in Deep Creek. The hat that somehow made it through moves, seasons, road trips, beach walks, and countless ordinary Wednesdays. It was more than fabric and stitching. It was a little souvenir from a happy chapter of my life.

Just like that... it was gone with the wind. Right off my head and into the Matanzas River.

I couldn't exactly dive in after it because I had Argo with me, and I wasn't willing to risk either of us floating down the river too.

And the cruel thing about losing something to water is that there's no satisfying ending. No "I'll look for it later." No finding it under the car seat next week. I literally just stood there and watched it drift away like a tiny retirement ceremony I never agreed to attend.

Still, I've decided to think of it as my hat's final adventure. It escaped. It caught a gust of wind, broke free, and set off on a journey of its own.

I'd like to imagine it eventually makes its way to the ocean, where a sea turtle adopts it as a fashionable new accessory, or a cool hipster mermaid decides it's exactly what she's been looking for.

Farewell, old friend.