Red Hat Society? Not so much.
Red? Yes. Purple? Yes. But not together.
My bestie Bea and I went to have fancy tea for my birthday and as a reason to dress up and wear big hats. While we were there enjoying eating our tiny sandwiches off of pink plates and sipping teas with names like “Blue Lady,” in walked a group of Red Hat Society Ladies.
- The Red Hat Society Official Website
RedHatSociety.com is the connector of women around the world. From inspiring stories that enrich Members' lives to scientific studies that focus on why Red Hatting promotes healthy lifestyles, the Red Hat Society empowers women and transforms lives
The Red Hat Society
The
Red Hat Society, for those of you who may be unfamiliar, is an international
organization for women of all ages, most of who are 50 years old, or
older. They wear red hats and purple
clothes. Those younger than 50 wear pink
hats and lavender clothes. According to
the official red hat website, their mission is to support and encourage women
of all ages in their pursuits of fun, friendship, freedom, fulfillment, and
fitness.
To be clear, I am not against the Red Hat Society in anyway. I even have a friend that started her own chapter and I participated for a few months (several years ago) to be supportive of her. Thing is I am not really a “joiner.” Even as a young girl I didn’t like group activities or organizations. I was in the Girl Scouts and I hated it.
I wasn’t a good fit for the Girl Scouts. I didn’t care for the uniform, and there were far too many camping activities. As you may already know, I really love not camping. But I digress.
We will NOT act our age!
Bea and I decided we are, well, to, um, US to ever be Red Hat ladies, even when our kids pack us off to the nursing home. (And we are going together and we are going to be roommates!) Anyway, we decided we are going to start our own society. The Red HOT Society. Instead of red hats and purple clothes, you can wear whatever you want on your head or nothing at all. Instead of red hats we will wear red stilettos. You don’t have to wear purple clothes. You can if you want, but you don’t have to. We will encourage, but not require the wearing of leopard print. We will not age gracefully. We will use every weapon in our arsenal. . . age defying creams, teeth whitening, hair dye, and of course the best age fighting weapons of all: friendship, laughter and a positive outlook on life.
- Warning, When I Am An Old Woman
Elizabeth Lucas Designs is a greeting card and gift products company that publishes, Warning, When I Am An Old Woman by Jenny Joseph.Elizabeth is a calligrapher and artist. Visit her web site to learn about the popular poem, "Warning, When I Am An Ol
Warning!
The red hat society was in part inspired by a poem, “Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple,” by Jenny Joseph. We need a slightly different version:
When I am an older woman, I shall wear leopard print
with stilettos, and a skirt that is too short.
And I shall spend all my money on wine and ridiculously large hats
Shoes, handbags and jewelry and say we've no money for dinner.
I will kick off my shoes and walk barefoot down the street
and eat whatever I like and never diet
and make funny faces at children, smile at strangers
and have too many cats
I will dance in the rain, and drive with the top down on sunny days
And go to night clubs and stay out way too late
and I will learn to throw a mean right hook.
Old enough to know better, too young to care
We will take a cue from the Red Hat Ladies and we will support women of all ages in their pursuits of fun, friendship, freedom, fulfillment and fitness (if that makes her happy.) We will also support the drinking of wine and the eating of chocolate cake. We will banish words like “can’t” and “shouldn’t.” We will take trips of a lifetime, such as our already planned for the somewhat distant future, trip to the Kentucky Derby when I am 50. We really want to go so we can justify the purchase of HUGE Kentucky Derby hats. We will go and wear our hats, and sip mint juleps and place outrageous bets. We will politely but honestly say what we really mean to say. Having raised our families we will embrace a new chapter in our lives. We will embrace being older and wiser. We will embrace the fact that we are finally comfortable in our own skin. We won’t worry about silly things like smile lines. We won’t worry about gray hairs either, but we will dye them. Jet black for me and golden honey blond for Bea. We will wear what we like, too. If I want to wear fishnets, a black pencil skirt, tight sweater and of course, red stilettos on a Tuesday afternoon to have coffee with Bea before grocery shopping, I will. If she wants to wear a beautiful printed bohemian mini dress and purple suede knee boots on the same Tuesday afternoon to meet me I will applaud that. If you would like to join us, come on! Putting on your glad rags and take no nonsense off of anyone shoes and meet us at the coffee shop. Don’t worry about being able to pick us out. You will immediately recognize us.
