My husband was raised right. He was taught very early that you show respect at the dinner table. Especially if you are a guest.
He will ALWAYS remove his hat at the table.
This applies to the kitchen and dining room, not so much at a picnic table or if we are eating buffet style throughout the house. Then again, he has this rule so deeply ingrained in his brain that he will often remove his lid in those situations also. I have heard him say that it's just not comfortable. I know many people who pray at the table before dinner and those people remove their hats while they pray. We are not those people. This is just something that is important to him.
This little sign of respect is something that I never really noticed before I met him. I can remember some people growing up removing a hat and some not. But it wasn't something we really discussed in my family.
Or at least, not in a conversation I was a part of and possibly because my dad
never wore hats.
This is something that my trucker is very sincere about. It is not something that would go unnoticed.
We had a dinner guest recently that created a slight problem. I was somewhat surprised to see that my whole family was aware of the elephant in the room. This man was offered the seat at the head of our table as our guest and as a respected friend. He is older than all of us, it was the right thing to do. My boys were quiet, but I know they noticed the hat. My toddler thought it was the funniest joke she'd seen in all her life. She's not a talker but she repeatedly pointed to daddy's hat in the other room, then his head, then her head and then the guest... at which point she would make that smack your forehead gesture. The two year old way to say
"Man, he just doesn't get it!"
Now, in most cases, my darling trucker would say something, or make a gesture or even say something in a roundabout way, like "yes, baby girl, Daddy took his hat off and left it in the kitchen. I know." But this particular guest is an old family friend. Well, we've known him a long time and he is a fair bit older than us. So what do you do then?
My wonderful hubby and I were almost stuck between two strong morals of our own. Do you ask for the respect at the table and ask him to remove his hat? Or, do you respect your elders and therefore keep your mouth shut?
We kept them shut. This time. Made a few excuses as to why he may have just forgotten and chose to take a higher road on this one and respect our elders. For whatever that's worth in this case.
Chances are, I won't have to worry about making dinner for that particular guest for a long long time.
Do you remove your hat?
What would you do in this situation? Would you say something? Tell me your thoughts.
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