Perceptions

Once a year I get to meet up with my best friend from high school when she comes to Indy for GenCon. It's always around my birthday and she always brings me a gift.

This year she brought me a hat. A fedora-type hat.



She said the moment she reached out for it it screamed "DEZRA!"

I stared at it for an eternity in stupefaction while watching myself take the hat into my hand and smiling hugely and saying, "Oh, it's perfect!"

Huh?

Not that I don't appreciate the gift. What dumbfounds me is that Laura's perception of me includes this hat. A hat I have no idea what I'm going to do with. Where did this perception come from?

I'm finding this an interesting meditation. What is it about me that makes Laura think this hat screams my name? What does the hat represent to Laura that she attributes to me? What is the meaning of the hat and it's relationship to me in Laura's experience of me?



And then the flip side is, why don't I see this in myself? It must exist because Laura is able to pin that hat on me because of some perception I've given her of myself.

Granted, I used to wear hats when I was in high school but I've moved on from then. Maybe she sees me as an artist and the hat represents a certain artistic styling. Or perhaps it comes from my desire to be sophisticated and perhaps that hat represents some degree of sophistication. Urban sophisticate? I don't know.

It is something I will need to think about. And perhaps I should give the hat a try. Maybe it'll bring out the inner...um...hatness that is me.