Tales From the Hood

Our family loves hoodies. Whether a zip-up or a pullover, cotton, fleece, or nylon, the material and hardware are of no concern. If it has a hood, we like it.

For his birthday alone, J got five of them. For Christmas the month before, he got three. He has 14 hanging in his closet and another six in his drawer.

How many hoodies does a six year old need for one season?

I'm pretty sure it's not 20.

But that's the thing. Here we are at the end of May and we're still wearing them. All the time. I'm pretty sure we'll continue to do so for at least another month and on most evenings throughout the summer.

M has her share as well. through hand-me-downs, gifts, and purchases she racked up quite a few of her own.

And if she has her way, she'll continue to wear her "Jah-Jee" even when the mercury hits the 90+ mark. It's a right of passage for her. A passage that leads her out of the house and into exciting places like Target, Safeway, or Costco.

Once her Jah-Jee and "shoos" are on, the world is her playground.

I asked Santa for a hoodie last Christmas. Santa looked everywhere for the one I wanted. I was very specific. It had to be just like the one I had purchased for J: a lightweight, North Face fleece. Santa didn't find it. He found several other North Face jackets, but the lightweight one he found didn't have a hood.

And Santa knew that wouldn't do.

He found a comparable one at REI and paid too much money for it. But he's gotten both his hard work and his money's worth. I love the way it makes me feel so warm and toasty without all the bulk. I know I'll be wearing it for years to come!

Daddy is a fan too. In fact, he may be the one that deserves the credit for recruiting the rest of the family. He has an old black Nike pullover that he's had since I met him. It can almost be called gray now, yet I don't think it's going anywhere soon.

If hoods could talk, there would be many a tales to tell. Lucky for us they don't. Even if they did, our hoodies wouldn't let us down. They're our friends. The friends that you can always count on to wrap you in their comfort and make you feel happy inside.

Sometimes the occasional rat hangs out in the hood.

But our hoodies would never rat us out. The rats are just that. Rats. Rats that like hoods. And who can blame them? In the gangsta world they're referred to as Hood Rats.

Where can we sign up?