I smile when I think of a gentleman whom I visited a couple years ago as he was one of my Home Care Physical Therapy clients. Since it was one of the warmer days in the fall, I asked him if he wanted to walk outside, with my intent being that I wanted to see how he did on uneven terrain with his new cane. It was one of his goals to be able to walk to the mailbox, which was approximately 25 feet from his door. As we were about to exit his home, he stopped to retrieve his hat from an entry table and he carefully placed it on his head. It was clear that this was something he did every time he left his home. As we were walking toward the mailbox, a neighbor drove by and my client tipped his hat to acknowledge the person. According to Wikipedia, "A hat tip is an act of tipping or (especially in British English) doffing one's hat as a cultural expression of recognition, respect, gratitude, greeting, or simple salutation and acknowledgement between two persons."1

Recently I was reorganizing my breezeway and I found myself chuckling at the number of hats that I own. I have hats for hiking, hats for kayaking, hats for bicycling, horse-riding Western hats, rain hats, straw hats, fleece and wool hats (with and without ear flaps), baseball caps, and beach hats, and yes, I even have a purple sequined New Year's Eve hat. While I do have many more hats than I need, I most often leave my home without a hat so that I do not get the resulting "hat head." So, I do not have a hat to tip to anyone that I meet as I am walking. However, a hat might come in handy when I want to cross a street in many towns in Maine, where there are no traffic lights. In the state of Maine we have a law that requires the driver of a car to yield the right of way to a pedestrian who is crossing within a marked crosswalk, or to a pedestrian who demonstrates the intent to enter a crosswalk. I call the process "The Maine Dance." First, the driver and the pedestrian establish eye contact. The driver often signals the pedestrian with a horizontal beckoning of a hand gesture (wrist flexion) and the pedestrian acknowledges the permission with a head nod or a hand wave (wrist extension and ulnar deviation). The pedestrian then starts to cross the street and often makes the attempt to hurry, even breaking into a jog. As the pedestrian crosses in front of the car, she or he often waves at the driver and the driver responds with either a head nod or a wave, or dismay or disparagement if they are "from away." Now that I think of it, it might be fun to have a hat to tip as part of the dance.

As I finish my 11-year tenure as Editor-in Chief of the Journal of Women's Health Physical Therapy (JWHPT), I have many people who deserve a hat tip from me. Indeed, Dr Diane Borello-France deserves hat tips with every hat I have. Her service as Senior Editor has been exemplary, and the friendship we have developed is one that will continue long past our contractual bond. I definitely made good decisions when I asked Dr Karen Abraham, Dr Elaine Wilder, and Darija Scepanovic to be associate editors. The members of the Board of Directors for the years of my tenure were always supportive of the work that we, as a team, did for the journal. I especially want to thank Dr Ann Marie Flores and Dr Secili DeStefano for the support they provided me in their capacity of Directors of Research as we worked together to increase the quality of JWHPT. Dr Beth Shelly diligently sent in book reviews and Dr Wendy Fox was the most recent person in that position. I also want to tip a hat to the Executive Directors of the Associated Management Group, Inc. (past = Denise Jackson and current = Kristin Clarke) for all the work they did, and continue to do, for the Section on Women's Health and JWHPT. Anna Mahalak, Madeline Fox, and Aiganym Barzhaxynova were also part of the AMG team that had a role in ensuring that we could do the work needed to publish each issue of JWHPT. Working with the members of the Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins publishing team has been easy and smooth and a very positive experience for me as they are each dedicated to the publication of a professional document that serves the members of the SOWH. I am always proud when each completed issue reaches my mailbox. I give a tip of a hat with a wide brim to Kivmars Bowling, Meg Etherington, and Andrea Williams and a special thanks to Maureen Howard for her patience when I contacted her to say that I would need a few more days to finish the work for the next issue of the journal. Last, but not at all least, is the work done by the reviewers of the manuscripts. The quality of the manuscripts that have been published is due, in large part, to the hours they spend reading the manuscripts and writing their reviews. Their volunteered work is critical to ensure that the SOWH membership can read valid and reliable information that can be confidently used to improve the quality of the lives of their patients/clients. To all of the aforementioned individuals, I tip a sparkling hat as a sign of respect and gratitude.

As I tip my hat to the path behind me, I want to take the opportunity to make a toast (with Prosecco in hand) to the road ahead. Dr Cynthia Chiarello and I have been working together for a smooth transition (not of power) to ensure that the JWHPT continues to serve the membership in a way that provides readers of the published manuscripts with evidence-based information so that patient/clients will want to tip their hat out of gratitude as they exit with an improved quality of life. I am extremely confident that I leave the JWHPT in the hands of a very competent and dedicated woman.

Now, with my favorite hat on (I will let each of you guess which one that is) .... I'll continue with the Prosecco!

Nancy C. Donovan, PT, PhD

Editor-in-Chief

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