Lady Bird, the Plaid Hat, and me

The photo is 1966 vintage and I am wearing a Plaid Hat. I capitalize those two words because the hat seems to require it. I look at it now and wonder what possessed me. It is like third living presence in the photograph.

Believe it or not, the Plaid Hat, though large, is not the most notable thing in the photo. Lady Bird Johnson is.

There is Lady Bird, the Plaid Hat, and me.

In the era of the Plaid Hat, I was a docent at the boyhood home of Lyndon Baines Johnson. I volunteered at the LBJ home because my mother and my sister did. Mom thought it would be a good thing for all of us to do. I didn’t know the word docent then and barely do now.

In those days we were known as tour guides. We took groups of people through the small home. The parlor still sticks in my memory today, and I think it must be because it held some of Lady Bird’s artifacts.

Back to Lady Bird. And the Plaid Hat. In my defense, that was another era with its own style. The photo was taken at the Texas White House in Stonewall -- the LBJ Texas White House, as opposed to the other one -- for a tea given in honor of the tour guides….er, docents, of the boyhood home. My photo, autographed by Lady Bird, is addressed to me “with best wishes.”

My sister, using her older-sister wisdom, hangs her photo with Lady Bird on the wall. She, of course, has older-sister presence and is looking at Lady Bird and smiling. I am looking at the ground or perhaps at Lady Bird’s shoes -– anything to avoid looking at the camera. My photo went into an album.

Perhaps, though, it’s time to relocate it to a more public space. I am thinking that if this shy, gracious woman who became the first lady of the country (following Jackie Kennedy! as a friend pointed out) could aim her dazzling smile at the camera, then I should have enough grace to hang her photo. The first lady doesn’t seem to mind the Plaid Hat (which seems to be smiling and waving at the camera). At least it’s a muted green Plaid Hat. My sister’s Plaid Hat was and is forever red.

That Lady Bird paid no mind to the hat is a tribute to her Southern gentility and is the epitome of this woman who accomplished so much from her first lady bully pulpit. I could say more about her, list some of her stunning accomplishments. But that’s been done and done, by people who knew her better than I did.

I will just say my silent thanks from this small-town Texan to a first lady who was as big as the great outdoors. The Plaid Hat not withstanding, the photo op, like the first lady’s presence, meant the world to that girl of 15. And to this much older woman.

In my dreams, that girl is doffing her Plaid Hat and not staring at the ground, but looking right at Lady Bird.

Comments

[Karen]

I like your column best. In a world where everything is critiqued, Lady Bird, as you, knew the importance of 15 year olds.

[justwords@typepad.com]

I hadn't thought of it that way before. Thanks, Miz Frog, for adding that perspective.