A lifelong large head has been compared to Charlie Brown.

There are some things that you are stuck with from the day you are born. You can’t control genetics. For some it means going through life with big feet or a large nose. For me it means having a big head. Really big. Like, I can’t wear caps.

When I was a small child, my dad said I looked like Charlie Brown. I have included a drawing of Charlie and a photo of me as a very small boy. I have to agree with Pop. You judge for yourself. Dad was one to talk, he is who I inherited the giant skull from.

Growing up, hats would never fit me like the other kids. The ones where you have the little plastic nubs that go in the holes never would work, even if I put just one nub in the last hole. Even if I could get the hat on it was so tight that it looked like a second scalp. Fortunately, I never joined a baseball team because the hat would be an issue.

In college my classmates began to notice that my dark brown hair had random white hair mixed in. I started to go gray at 21 and had no real way to cover it. Slowly there was more salt than pepper. Every time I got my hair cut it looked more and more like it had snowed on my lap. Fortunately, I’ve never had a baldness issue. At 62, I am really just happy to have a full head of hair, regardless of the color.

A few years ago, I learned of a company called the Big Head Hat Club — I ordered a toboggan hat from them. Oh my, it was huge. It was big enough that a small child could use it as a sleeping bag. It became clear some people had even bigger heads than me.

The fact that my head is now completely white, and large, makes it easy to spot. A while ago my daughters told me that when they are looking for my wife and I in a crowd they simply look for my head. My own wife said my head is like a lighthouse. I now keep my hair cut really short to try to minimize everything.

A few weeks ago, I was taking photos at the Williamstown wetlands. The next day a friend that lives a block away asked if I had been taking photos in Williamstown. She said she had spotted my head through her kitchen window, and trees, from a block away.

I was relating to our publisher, Jim Spanner, how people seem to recognize me around town. He said, “Well Art, you do have a uniquely shaped head.”

It’s a good thing I have always been a law-abiding citizen. I doubt I could get away with anything in this town if I wasn’t. Witnesses would just report that the giant white head that works at The Times did it and I would be caught in no time.

Art Smith is online manager of The Times. He can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com