Caps off to the Yankee's!

When I moved here last June, my dad mentioned he would like to have a New York Yankee's baseball hat. Surprising news, since the only baseball hats he wears say Alabama Crimson Tide. It couldn't be an adjustable hat, it had to be the real thing, so I set out after work one day on a quest to find his particular size hat in classic Yankee's navy and white. After a day or so of walking the streets to pop in souvenir stores, only to find adjustable hats in a wide variety of very un-classic colors, I finally found the official Yankee's merchandise store over on 59th and Madison. Hallelujah! I picked the size hat Daddy needed, wrote a cute message to him inside the cap, and mailed it to Birmingham to surprise him in time for Father's Day.

On the night I knew Daddy was opening his Father's Day gifts, I got a picture message on my cell phone from Julie - it was of Daddy, with the non-adjustable hat perched on his head looking like it would be a better fit for a 12 year old boy! He thanked me for the surprise, said he liked the message I wrote, and promptly mailed the hat back to me - said I could keep it (well, couldn't return it with my personalized message!), and please buy him another one.

To avoid another sizing fiasco, I had Mama measure his head, then I did some math with a sales guy at the Yankee's store trying to figure out which size would fit. Wouldn't you know it - the perfect size for his head was no longer produced! After several calls to Daddy, having the sales guy try it on for fit, and even trying it on myself, "Okay Daddy, I can fit two fingers in the space between my head and the hat!", we finally decided to go with the hat one size bigger instead of one size smaller than his now non-existent perfect fit.

I made sure not to write anything in the cap this time - just in case a return was in order - and mailed it on to Birmingham. I waited anxiously until the next picture message came, this time directly from my dad. The message was surprising in several ways: 1. He took the picture himself, 2. He sent the PIX message himself - had no idea he knew how to do that!, and 3. The hat was too big - he has a really big head! His message with the picture said, "A little big". Let me just say, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry - it was so pitifully cute! I have to figure out how to get pictures from my cell phone to my computer; I still have the message from him saved on my phone almost a year later, and it still makes me laugh to look at it!

After one more round of mail it back to New York, return to store, fuss over size options, and mail back to Birmingham, Daddy finally got a hat that fits, well, fits good enough, and I have my souvenir of the whole experience, with a sweet little caption in the cap, "Daddy, I love you! Rebecca - NYC 2007".

The original Father's Day Yankees hat finally gets its game debut at the New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles game tonight during the final season at Yankee Stadium.