Now that winter is tiptoeing into the Valley, I have been wondering where my winter hat is.   

Then I thought about the different “hats” I’ve worn over my life.  I’ve been a female version of Dennis the Menace, or Bugs Bunny in grade school, and I loved wearing the red cowboy hats that Santa dropped off at Christmas.   

I’ve worn a mom hat ever since my son was born way back when in San Anton’.  The hat I wore was a floppy hat to keep the sun off my face in Seguin, Texas, as I tried to keep up with the newest toddler in the family.  

I’ve worn a “Born on the Island” hat when I lived in Galveston, an island, even though I wasn’t born on the oft’ hurricane-trampled isle.   

I’ve worn a reporter’s hat several times in my life and have written more than one column about the reporter’s fedora or Clark Kent and Lois Lane’s press-pass-carrying hats.  

I’ve worn a teacher’s hat for a long time.  I started wearing a teacher’s hat when I used my study desk as my fictitious teacher’s desk with my sister, our dolls and teddy bears as students.  The “hat” has been a Sunday School Teacher’s, a substitute teacher’s, a high-school teacher’s, a university professor’s and a community college faculty hat.  

Once I met a former student who graduated and now wears a different “hat” from that “student hat.”  Some former learners work for the County, State or City.  Some have driven snowplows across La Veta Pass. Some promise, “I’ll look for you and wave!”  The hat she wears now is one that women don’t often put on.   

But the truth is that women who move out of their comfortable “hats” into the male dominated work world will earn more than women who choose traditional “hats” like “mom,” “office assistant,” “teacher,” “waiter,” and “daycare worker.”  

A report on National Public Radio reminded listeners that women still make less than men do on a worldwide scale.  An April report on CNN “Money,” said, “Even in the highest paying jobs, women still make less than men.”   

So, the “hat” one wears matters to the family checkbook and pantry.  It matters a lot to women as I have learned.  Consider when shopping for a career “hat,” a hat with lots of bliss and joy for the long haul;  and don’t forget a hat belt that can make life long, full of laughter and lucrative enough to buy the American Dream “Hat.”  

Nelda Curtiss is a retired college educator and long-time local columnist. Reach her at columnsbynellie.com or email her at columnsbynellie@gmail.com.