Did you know that I am a semi-professional juggler? I juggle hats. I have a lot of hats that I juggle. It’s a lot of fun and makes life interesting, especially since I have so many hats and occasionally a couple will try to slide away from me. When they do try to get away, it makes the juggling tough as sometimes I can’t catch all. Then I have to decide which hats I want to keep juggling. I could go for the nicest looking hat… Maybe the one that fits me best… There’s the one that is the most profitable… But here is the one that makes me a better person… And that one is one that I like a lot, but it isn’t any of those other things…
In the end, I have a system for choosing which hat to catch for those times when I can only choose one. The first hat I catch is my Catholic hat. It is the one that really defines me as a person. It guides all my actions and without it, none of the other hats would matter – or at least they would probably be in a much different order. Next is my Husband hat. This one is very important as well. I am married to a wonderful woman who is happy to help me pick up some of the hats I drop, as long as I don’t drop the top two. After my Husband hat comes my Father hat. This hat is the one that allows me to be a good dad to my little girls. It helps me to remember that it is my charge on earth to carry these top three hats at all times. The Husband and Father hats are intertwined with the Provider and Protector hats that I juggle. These come pretty easy and they are fairly aerodynamic so they don’t flail around a lot.
The next few hats are a bit lower than the first three, but they are still pretty important. These include my Son and Brother hats, which are about the same. Seldom do they go astray and hardly ever at the same time. These hats help me to be a good member of my family. There is also my In-Law hat which helps me to get along with my wife’s family. The final hat in this group is my Friend hat. This one I struggle with a lot because there are only so many hats that I can juggle and I drop this one a lot. I have some really good friends, but I seldom get a chance to see them because of all the other hats. I try my best to make sure that I keep in touch with this hat, but more often than I would like, it falls to the ground.
The next group of hats is a mixture of things I enjoy and things that I do for the betterment of my family or me. I love my coaching hat. I have been a Special Olympics Coach for 2 years now and love doing that. I’ve also got my Youth Group Leader hat. This one is a little more work than the others, but I feel like God keeps telling me to hold on to this one. Two other hats that belong in this group are my Acolyte hat and my Usher hat. The Usher hat is nice because it allows me to meet a lot of the wonderful people that are in our Parish. The Acolyte hat is great because it lets me serve the Church and be close to the Consecration which is absolutely incredible, however it makes it hard to hold on to the Husband and Father hats because I have to leave my family in the pews to grab this one.
There is another hat that is really complicated. This hat actually has a series of small hats that reside within it, but it gets tricky because I don’t want to drop these small hats out while I handle the main hat. This hat is my Employee hat. It contains the smaller hats of Programming, Estimating, Phone Answering, Planning, Project Management, and Client Management. These hats while smaller than the Employee hat make this one of the toughest hats to keep juggling, but it is also far better than other Employee hats and this is one that I have to keep juggling in some form or another, or I will drop the Provider and Protector hats.
The final tier of hats is comprised of things that I just enjoy keeping up with, but these are frequently dropped because of one thing or another. My Small Business hat is one that creeps up from time to time and that is why I have my little hobby Morning Star Memories. My Citizen hat keeps me interested in politics. My Football helmet keeps me interested in sports, particularly football.
There are many more hats in my life that I will pick up sometimes and juggle for a while, but 17 is usually about my limit. I wish I could do more and I hope that someday I’ll be able to go pro and handle all of my hats, but until then, my hat rack holds the rest. On my hat rack you will find my Knights of Columbus, Men’s Club, Athlete, Video Gaming, Craftsman, and Groundskeeper hats.
My hat juggling is a lot of fun, but sometimes its hard work. I wish I could juggle other things like I do my hats, but just ask my wife, I can’t. I’m not even that good with my hats sometimes – like when I have to stay late at work or when I put off preparing for our youth group until the last minute. With practice, someday I hope to become a professional hat juggler, but I may trim it down so I only have a few hats that I juggle and I will just be really good at it.
In the end, I have a system for choosing which hat to catch for those times when I can only choose one. The first hat I catch is my Catholic hat. It is the one that really defines me as a person. It guides all my actions and without it, none of the other hats would matter – or at least they would probably be in a much different order. Next is my Husband hat. This one is very important as well. I am married to a wonderful woman who is happy to help me pick up some of the hats I drop, as long as I don’t drop the top two. After my Husband hat comes my Father hat. This hat is the one that allows me to be a good dad to my little girls. It helps me to remember that it is my charge on earth to carry these top three hats at all times. The Husband and Father hats are intertwined with the Provider and Protector hats that I juggle. These come pretty easy and they are fairly aerodynamic so they don’t flail around a lot.
The next few hats are a bit lower than the first three, but they are still pretty important. These include my Son and Brother hats, which are about the same. Seldom do they go astray and hardly ever at the same time. These hats help me to be a good member of my family. There is also my In-Law hat which helps me to get along with my wife’s family. The final hat in this group is my Friend hat. This one I struggle with a lot because there are only so many hats that I can juggle and I drop this one a lot. I have some really good friends, but I seldom get a chance to see them because of all the other hats. I try my best to make sure that I keep in touch with this hat, but more often than I would like, it falls to the ground.The next group of hats is a mixture of things I enjoy and things that I do for the betterment of my family or me. I love my coaching hat. I have been a Special Olympics Coach for 2 years now and love doing that. I’ve also got my Youth Group Leader hat. This one is a little more work than the others, but I feel like God keeps telling me to hold on to this one. Two other hats that belong in this group are my Acolyte hat and my Usher hat. The Usher hat is nice because it allows me to meet a lot of the wonderful people that are in our Parish. The Acolyte hat is great because it lets me serve the Church and be close to the Consecration which is absolutely incredible, however it makes it hard to hold on to the Husband and Father hats because I have to leave my family in the pews to grab this one.
There is another hat that is really complicated. This hat actually has a series of small hats that reside within it, but it gets tricky because I don’t want to drop these small hats out while I handle the main hat. This hat is my Employee hat. It contains the smaller hats of Programming, Estimating, Phone Answering, Planning, Project Management, and Client Management. These hats while smaller than the Employee hat make this one of the toughest hats to keep juggling, but it is also far better than other Employee hats and this is one that I have to keep juggling in some form or another, or I will drop the Provider and Protector hats.
The final tier of hats is comprised of things that I just enjoy keeping up with, but these are frequently dropped because of one thing or another. My Small Business hat is one that creeps up from time to time and that is why I have my little hobby Morning Star Memories. My Citizen hat keeps me interested in politics. My Football helmet keeps me interested in sports, particularly football.
There are many more hats in my life that I will pick up sometimes and juggle for a while, but 17 is usually about my limit. I wish I could do more and I hope that someday I’ll be able to go pro and handle all of my hats, but until then, my hat rack holds the rest. On my hat rack you will find my Knights of Columbus, Men’s Club, Athlete, Video Gaming, Craftsman, and Groundskeeper hats.
My hat juggling is a lot of fun, but sometimes its hard work. I wish I could juggle other things like I do my hats, but just ask my wife, I can’t. I’m not even that good with my hats sometimes – like when I have to stay late at work or when I put off preparing for our youth group until the last minute. With practice, someday I hope to become a professional hat juggler, but I may trim it down so I only have a few hats that I juggle and I will just be really good at it.
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