You are Never Too Old or Too Young to Follow Your Passion

 

    

Sometimes a hat is just a hat. Sometimes however, a hat is more than just a hat.  Sometimes a hat has a story to tell, it just needs a little help telling it.

I sent this hat to Alex along with this story, and his mom sent me these great photos.  He is clearly having a ball bringing life and a story, giving this floppy piece of mundane cloth meaning and purpose.

Dear Alex, 

This particular hat belonged to your great grandfather.  Again, there’s a lot more to the story than just who it belonged to and that you are related.  Your mom told me that you love to cook so I wanted you to have his hat, because you are very special and this hat was very special to him as well.

You’ll understand better when you are older, but people very often find jobs that will be best for supporting their families financially, but have nothing to do with their happiness or fulfilling their own dreams.  

Here is the story this hat would tell you if hats could talk, and hopefully inspire you every time you wear it.

Your Great Grampa loved to cook.  From the time he was a young boy like you, he always felt a passion and a desire to concoct some sort of delicious dishes to present to his family and friends.  His mother, your Great Great Grandmother loved him dearly and she let him practice and experiment in her kitchen whenever he wanted to.  Some people spend their whole lives chasing rainbows, hoping they will find what they love but most never do.  In his case though, he knew what he loved early on and consequently he always had happy memories whenever he was creating his masterpieces in a kitchen.  He was happy in any kitchen and continued to create and learn in his own kitchen when he married and had his own family.

I remember how he looked forward to his days off from work as an adult, when he could spend the entire weekend experimenting with different spices, discovering new ingredients, and concocting new recipes.  He ever challenged himself to make an even better and more delicious meal than he had the last time.  When he cooked in his small, rather simple home kitchen he still dreamed of being a chef.  He felt it wasn’t practical for where he was and the salary chefs were paid there so many years ago to support a family. To his credit, that didn't dissuade him and he kept practicing and challenging himself on his time off from work to learn more and become better at doing the thing he loved. 

When he ultimately served in the Marine Corps in WWII and was sent overseas, he would even sneak down to the ship's kitchen to help the cooks prepare the meals for the other soldiers.  Needless to say, that made everyone happy.

When you’re doing what you love, you will be happy wherever you are.  He didn’t need a high-end professional kitchen or expensive imported pots and pans to be happy.  He only needed to keep challenging himself and learning more to live his dream of being a chef and cooking delicious meals for his family and friends. 

Finally, when he was old enough to retire from his full time job, he took a very big step.  He came home from work one Friday, just like he had every other Friday for the past 30 years.  This particular Friday however would be different.  It would change the course of his life forever. 

He wasted no time and announced to his wife (your Great Grandmother) that he was retiring and moving to Florida.  His other big dream had always been to live in Florida.  It was a big step, and actually a giant leap of faith, but he was determined to fulfill his dreams, no matter at what age.

You only have one chance to make this life the best you can, so as soon as he was settled in Florida, he lost no time in researching where he could attend school to become a professional chef.  Even though he was over 60 years old, he applied and was accepted to a prestigious culinary school far away in New York. It was far away, but it had the curriculum he needed and he was determined to fulfill his dream, no matter how long it took him or how far away he had to go.  

The older we get, the harder it is to learn new things but that didn’t stop him.  He was determined to finally make his dream come true for whatever time he had left on this earth, be it short or long.

After he graduated and fulfilled the requirements he needed to become certified as a chef, he joined and became involved with one of the most prestigious and active chef associations that he could find. 

 Some of his fellow chefs owned their own high-end restaurants.  Some were personal chefs to celebrities.  And some simply wanted to work in small informal cafes, but all were doing what they loved.  He also became credentialed so that he was able to teach in the local culinary college and to judge competitions.  Some of his fondest moments were when he was judging the talented experts in their particular fields who created everything from extravagant chocolate masterpieces to award winning ice sculptures for some of the richest families in the US. 

During those years he immersed and involved himself in doing everything a chef could do, including volunteering, judging, and teaching to live the satisfying and fulfilling life working in the field he had always dreamed about and loved.

Sometimes he would simply wear no hat and sometimes he wore the standard big and billowy chef’s hat with which we’re all so familiar.  His favorite though, was wearing this hat when he would judge competitions and teach other young, up and coming chefs - like you, in culinary schools. He would be so happy, seeing you in his hat and having so much fun creating the masterpieces you are learning to create, doing what you love.  

Whatever your dreams are and wherever life takes you, I hope you will always remember and cherish this hat.  I can honestly say your Gramps was never happier than when he was wearing this hat, so I wanted to pass it along to you on this special birthday with my heartfelt wishes for you to find all the happiness in life that this hat brought to your Great Grampa.

Love you!