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THE HARD HAT BROTHERHOOD
An international organization of men who get together
for fun and to have a good time doing guy stuff.
Our Motto: TESTOSTERONE: Our Guys Are Full Of It...
www.hardhatbrotherhood.com
Origins Of The Hard Hat Brotherhood:
Sometimes it just takes a good THWACK to the back of the head.
My name is Andrew Smith a.k.a. Andy, the Head Hard Hat and I would
just love to tell you that the origins of the HHBrotherhood came to me
as an inspiration out of the blue. The truth is it was more like a
two-by-four to the back of the head – THWACK!
You see, I’m a guy and before the Hard Hat Brotherhood existed I
exhibited typical guy behavior. For fun let’s name that behavior
“Husband-Couch-Potatoitis” and I will give you a few of the symptoms.
See if these sound familiar. I spent hours on end in front of some sort
of luminary device like a large screen TV, computer monitor, gaming
console… you get the idea. So captivated by these seemingly harmless
appliances that the only communication I was able to convey to my wife,
Char, came in the form of nods and grunts. Selective hearing soon set
in. That is when your wife gets no response to requests like “take out
the garbage” or “the lawn needs to be mowed”, but does get an immediate
response to “honey, would you like a cold one?”. Any of this ring any
bells? Unknown to me at that time I was sinking into a solitary stagnant
existence much like a hermit, only with cable and broadband connections.
Needless to say, my wife was not too pleased with my behavior and soon
she started shopping around for a two-by-four.
Char became involved with the Red Hat Society in February 2004. When
I say involved I mean like to exist you need air, water, food and the
RHS. The kicker is I didn’t even realize at first that she had started
her own Chapter, named it the “Flaming Red Divine Divas” and she was now
The Queen. I was too busy watching ESPN. Even as the family room started
to fill up with a wild assortment of newly designed hats, feather boas
and rhinestones I was still oblivious. All I cared about was that the
three hat stands, complete with large hats, on top of our projection TV
did not impede the current game of the week. My first real recollection
that something was up was when I had to physically start moving the
hatboxes out of my computer chair. You see, I sort of had a ‘slight’
obsession with computer games when I wasn’t watching television. As you
can no doubt imagine I was a bit slow on the uptake back then. My
constant self-isolation was building stress in our marriage and the
THWACK of all thwacks was a comin’ but I still didn’t have a clue. That
was when fate stepped in.
My Queen was about to hold her first RHS Chapter Event. An event is
when a bunch of Red Hat Society ladies get together and do things. I was
in my usual male mood of wondering why I had been taken out of my busy
schedule of watching television to be dragged along to unload and help
setup all of my wife’s RHS stuff. Okay so I was a bit of a jerk back
then – remember this is in the past. We finished the setup for her and
the Red Hats ladies started coming in. My wife looks at me, smiles and
waves and I realize that is my cue to leave. Here I am, literally on the
outside of a restaurant looking in and waiting. As I am about to start
exploring my new outside environment, I notice some of the other RHS
husbands standing near by. I knew one of them so I went over and we
started talking. Joking at first about our ladies, the conversations
then turned to more in-depth topics. I suggested we find someplace to
continue talking and maybe get something to eat. Everyone agreed and we
ended up having a great time, just us guys – go figure. After a few more
RHS events it became the normal thing to do. Drop off the ladies, set-up
the event and then go out with the guys. We actually looked forward to
meeting up just as much as the ladies did.
After three or four months of doing this my wife suggested that since
I liked doing this so much, why not start up my own guys club? My
response was typical male-like behavior; I rolled my eyes and whined
that “nobody is going to want to join a guy’s club!”. “How do you know
if you don’t try?” she said, smiling that sly smile that always means I
already lost the debate. THWACK! Well you know, maybe that wouldn’t be
such a bad thing to try.
She suggested that maybe we should have hard hats and that way we
could even decorate them. My response was less than enthusiastic; I am
thinking, “you have got to be kidding me. No male in his right mind is
going to decorate something like a hard hat and wear it out in public –
No Way”. THWACK! Hey, you know we would be a club and we do want to draw
some attention to ourselves otherwise no one knows we are a club, right?
Why not. The guys thought it was a great idea and we all started
creating our own hard hats.
The Hard Hat Brotherhood was born and with it I found a new outlet.
Through this outlet I have been able to maintain great friendships with
guys all around the country. I absolutely love being able to not only go
out with just the guys a few times a month but also have combined events
with our Red Hat wives so we can share fun times together. As men it is
easy for some of us to just let ourselves fall into an isolated way of
existing. I have found through the HHBrotherhood that it is also just as
easy to go out and make friends and actually enjoy life instead of just
passing through it. It took my wonderful wife Char and several THWACKs
to the back of my head to figure this out. It is now my joy and goal in
life to help other men figure this out as well. As young boys and men
many of us were part of “a gang” of some sort, be it sports, band,
science club, cars, poker night, etc. and treasured those friendships.
We now provide that same type of friendship and interaction for adult
men. The guys know they have “Brothers” all across the country and we
are spreading around the world.
The Hard Hat Brotherhood is now an international organization made
just for men and is currently sweeping the United States and now all
over the world. Based on the simple premise that men sometimes just want
to go out and be one of the guys. While participating in HHBrotherhood
events there are no rules, regulations or honey-do lists. Any guy from
age of 18 and up may join in the pursuit of having fun doing “guy
stuff”. Please visit our website at www.hardhatbrotherhood.com and be
sure to sign yourself up. General membership is free. You can also email
Andy, the Head Hard Hat at headhardhat@hardhatbrotherhood.com and always
remember the Hard Hat Brotherhood motto: Testosterone: Our Guys Are Full
Of It!
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GOOD MORNING MY DEAR QUEEN
MUM AND STAFF..
HELLO CHICKEN SOUP
..
I MUST HAVE ALL OF
YOUR CHICKEN SOUP BOOKS AS I LOVE TO READ THEM AND SO , I AM GOING TO TRY AND
WRITE A STORY FOR YOU ABOUT MY CHAPTER AND MY LOVELY FLOWERS THAT I HAVE
GROWING IN MY GARDEN OF LOVE.
I AM A VOLUNTEER FOR
HOSPICE AND A VOLUNTEER FOR A LOCAL HOSPITAL AS AN ADVOCATE FOR PATIENTS
RIGHTS. I LOVE WHAT I DO BUT, 4 YEARS AGO I WAS TALKING TO A FRIEND OF MINE ,
I TOLD HER I NEEDED TO HAVE SOME FUN THING TO DO AND SHE SAID "I HAVE JUST
THE THING FOR YOU .. IT IS A GREAT SITE, I WILL EMAIL IT TO YOU...AND SO SHE
DID..
I CHECKED IT OUT,
SEARCHED IT GOOD,AND WITH SUCH JOY AND COULD NOT WAIT TO BECOME A "RED HAT
LADY" I WENT TO THE CHAPTER SEARCH IN MY TOWN AND NEARBY TOWNS LOOKING FOR A
CHAPTER TO JOIN..
I WAS TOLD THEY WERE
EITHER FULL OR THEY DID NOT KNOW IF THEY WERE EVEN GOING TO BECOME A CHAPTER
AT ALL. SO I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO, I EMAILED THE EXAULTED QUEEN RULER IN
CALIFORNIA AND ASKED HER ADVICE.. SHE TOLD ME TO START MY OWN CHAPTER, AND
WALKED ME THRU SOME OF IT AND THEN LET ME GO ON MY OWN..."PIECE OF CAKE" BUT
, KIND OF WONDERED IF IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO??
I PUT MY NAME IN THE
CHAPTER SITE IN THE RED HAT SOCIETY AND THEN THE BALL STARTED TO ROLL,
GATHERING LADIES FROM ALL OVER THE PLACE, NOT ONLY IN MY TOWN BUT IN OTHER
SURROUNDING TOWNS AS WELL, IT WAS AMAZING .. PHONE WAS RINGING, EMAILS
WERE COMING IN SO FAST I COULD NOT KEEP UP FOR WEEKS.
IT DID NOT TAKE TIME FOR
ME TO GET US ALL TOGETHER PLAN A MEETING AND GET THE BEST SURPRISE OF MY LIFE,
TO SEE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FACES, ALL SMILING, ALL HUGGING EACH OTHER AND
LOOKING SO HAPPY TO BE WITH ONE ANOTHER......WOW .....WHAT A FEELING .....WHAT
A HIGH AND TO THNK...I DID IT...I MADE THIS HAPPEN, I MADE FUN HAPPEN FOR
ALL OF US.. IT WAS SO SPECIAL AND EXCITING, AND IT STILL IS..EACH TIME I MEET
THESE WONDERFUL LADIES, ALL DIFFERENT , ALL HAPPY TO BE TOGETHER AND EXCITED
TO BE SILLY AND SOMETIMES EVEN "WILD" ...I HAVE TO PINCH MYSELF AND SAY..."I
DID THIS"
IT IS BY FAR THE BEST
THING I HAVE DONE FOR ME TO HAVE FUN AND ESCAPE THE HARD TOUGH DAYS I HAVE AS
WE ALL DO..IT IS SOMETHING THAT FOR A DAY, I CAN FORGET AND JUST BE A SILLY
AND FUN LOVING LADY IN PURPLE AND FOLKS STOPPING AND ASKING US...
"WHO ARE YOU ANYWAY? AND
WE LAUGH AND GIVE THEM ANSWERS THAT MAKE THEM LAUGH, OR SCRATCH THEIR HEADS??
IN WONDERMENT..
THIS PAST APRIL, WE
CELEBRATED OUR 4TH BIRTHDAY,,WE HAD A DELIGHTFUL PARTY AT A LOCAL RESTAURANT,
OUR EVENING WAS SPLENDID AND ALWAYS SOMETHING WE WILL REMEMBER.. EACH OF US
SAID A SHORT LITTLE SPEECH ABOUT WHAT WE ARE GETTING OUT OF THIS LITTLE
JOURNEY AND IT WAS SO SPECIAL..
WE ARE NOW UP TO 3
SCRAPBOOKS, WE CHECK THEM OUT EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE AND LAUGH AT OUR PAST AND
PLAN FOR OUR FUTURE, ALL OF IT TO BE "FUN"
AS FOR WHAT THIS DID FOR
ME .. IT MADE ME MORE CARING,LOVING, APPRECIATIVE AND ALWAYS LOOKING FORWARD
TO A FUN EVENT..
I HAVE MADE A MOST
WONDERFUL GARDEN OF FLOWERS EVER, CONSTANTLY BLOOMING, ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL , ALL
DIFFERENT AND BLENDING WELL TOGETHER..
AMAZING LIFE AFTER 50 AND
IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER...
LIFE IS GOOD . ENJOY ..
MAKE IT COUNT..
FRAGRANTLY,
QUEEN MUM MICKIE
LES CHAPEAUX ROUGE OF
NEWINGTON..
I was looking forward to spending my retirement living on a lake, reading
good books, traveling and dining out as often as possible. I figured I had
earned the chance to just relax after 35 years of teaching. All of these
daydreams included my husband of 26 years. But fate had other ideas.
In September 2000 my husband died of a massive stroke. I was left living
alone on a 23 acre farm and traveling 100 miles round trip every day to my
teaching job. I was up for retirement in June 2001. I carried though with the
plan even though it meant leaving people who had become my extended family.
My son graduated from college that same year. Job opportunities were few
and far between for Marine Biologists, so he moved in with me and found work
at a local Walmart and later at a PetCo. We had recently placed my 97 year old
father in a nursing home and I had no other relatives close by. So I decided
to sell the family farm and move to a smaller house closer to my teaching
friends. It was also necessary to sell the cottage on the lake. That meant
cleaning out two houses with over 60 years of family history. The next step
was finding a temporary place to live while waiting for our new house to be
finished. I was fortunate to have my son with me during those months. In
February of 2002, on the day of the only snow storm that winter, we moved into
our brand new home. We lived with a very muddy dooryard for awhile. It was a
challenge just to get in and out of the house.
For several months we were busy unpacking and decorating. Many of my
friends from school came to help. However, when school started again in
September those friends were no longer free to keep me company. I had survived
many lifestyle changes in the preceding two years and I now became quite
depressed and lonely. I spent my days sitting around feeling sorry for myself,
napping a great deal and accomplishing nothing.
Call it serendipity if you like, but one day I happened into a local gift
shop and found a great red hat. As I was paying for it the owner asked if I
belonged to the Red Hat Society. I had no idea what he was talking about. He
said to look The Red Hat Society up on the internet. When I got home I logged
on to a new outlook on life. First I started a chapter of teacher friends.
Nothing new there and no new people. Then I joined another chapter in the same
town and my new life began. I met many wonderful new friends in this group. I
enjoyed it so much that I started a second Chapter of my own and added more
people to my growing list of friends.
But the best was still to come. I had heard about Queens’ groups that meet
occasionally and I decided to see if the Queens in my area would be
interested. We now have about 60 chapters on our email list. We have been
meeting every other month for 2 years to socialize and share chapter news. We
even sponsored a one day convention and have another planned for this
September As founder of the group they call me The Grand Pooh Bah. A
Pooh Bah is defined as a pompous but useless official. I just
love the title. It’s so whimsical. I just hope I don’t completely live up to
the definition.
Working with this group of ladies is a wonderful experience. Ladies who
decide to become Queens have a special outlook on life and the willingness to
get involved.
Best of all I made a new Best Friend. Joyce lives about a block away and I
was not aware of her existence before we met at a Queens’ meeting. Now we
frequently do lunch or go on adventures. I find myself very busy. Sometimes I
have several Red Hat events a week. I maintain a website that we use as a
means of communication. People I’ve never met call me for advice or to ask if
I will post their coming events on our site.
The Red Hat Society has given my retirement new life. Every day is a new
day to go out and PLAY.
Mary Lou Rogers
30 Primrose Lane Suffield,CT 06078
860-668-7982
t
hegrandpoohbah1@hotmail.com