Hats off to the Mesa Police

Look carefully at the following pictures:

This is Jim feeding our granddaughter Lily, when she was about 6 months old.



This is Jim and our friend Larry at our Luau party.



This is Jim standing next to the God Bless America sculpture in downtown Mesa.



All of these pictures have one thing in common. Can you see what it is? Look again.

That's right! Jim is wearing a hat! He has two favorite hats. One looks like this:



And the other looks like this:



Jim wears one ALL THE TIME. He usually only takes it off to go to bed. (How did I get the above shots of the hats? He was in the shower! Snort!)This means, when we go to the dances here in the park, Jim shows up wearing his hat. Doesn't matter that he's the ONLY one wearing a ball cap. (One or two may wear a cowboy hat.) Doesn't matter that other people are dressed up. Jim wears his shorts, shirt, suspenders, and hat. What you see is what you get.

Does it bother me? You betcha. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind when he wears a hat around the trailer and when we are running around, but going to the dances? Not so much.

Surprisingly many people have come up to Jim and shaken his hand, thanking him for his service. Strangers. Calling him sir. Patting him on the back. It's amazing. Jim has even gotten discounts at Home Depot and Auto Zone just for wearing the veteran hat!

Yesterday we were running around doing errands. Jim turned down a street that we normally don't drive on to get to the highway. We got to the stoplight, Jim stopped, then proceeded to turn right. A few seconds later Jim started to slow down.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"A police car," he said.

I looked up in the mirror attached to my visor and saw that Jim was right. Jim quickly moved over to the right lane and slowed down even more. Surprisingly, the police car followed suit!

"Uh-oh! What did you do wrong?"

"I don't know," Jim said, fumbling for his driver's license, while keeping his eyes on the road.

I quickly started looking for our insurance information. By this time we were completely stopped. The cop approached the car and Jim rolled down the window.

"Hello," Jim said.

"Good afternoon. I see you are a veteran?" The cop asked looking at Jim's hat.

"Yes sir."

"Do you know why I pulled you over today?"

"No sir."

"Back there where you turned right on Broadway at the red light, there was no turn on red," the cop said.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir! I didn't even see the sign!" (This is true; neither of us saw it!)

"Well," the cop continued, "These things happen. And since you are a veteran, I don't want to bring any more stress into your life! Have a good day!"

"Oh thank you!" Jim said.

The policeman smiled, turned and walked away.

I yelled out, "Thank you!"

And I am telling you all out there in Bloggerland that I will NEVER, EVER complain again that Jim is wearing his hat! (And yes, I told Jim, too!)