Its About Hope

This morning Jim and I went to California Haircuts for trims. I love going to a beauty shop. Having someone wash my hair feels so good, I can feel the stress melting away as the water flows over my head.

And I always am so hopeful that I will emerge - - changed - glamorous.

I was thumbing a book as the woman started to trim my hair. I did not notice another client walk over and sit in the chair next to me.

Then I heard her beauty operator ask her how she wanted her hair cut. I looked over - saw her patting her thick white hair, cut just below the nape of her neck. She reached up and moved her hair this way ad then that. "Do you know the actress Doris Day?"
Unfortunately the young Vietnamese woman cutting her hair nodded a bewildered no.

I did not listen to her try to explain the Doris Day signature short perky hairstyle.

It brought back another memory.

When I was about 14 I had my first professional permanent. I had high hopes when I walked into Jack Garrison's Beauty Shop at the corner of Central Avenue and the Plaza in Charlotte. I even had a picture with me. I wanted a poodle cut - so that I could look like Sophia Loren. Several hours later the woman took the tight curlers out of my hair, washed off the smelly perm solution and styled it for me. I fought back tears as I watched her comb out my new curly hair . I was ruined. When she finished my hopes were totally dashed. I did not look like Sophia Loren. I looked just like my grandmother except that I did not have a blue rinse on my hair.

I walked home in dispair. I tell you I felt ruined. At home I sat in front of the dresser mirror in my bedroom and cried. Then I hit on a solution. I got as pair of scissors and began cutting off the tight ringlets. I was sure it could not get any worse.Today
I picked up a pair of scissors and began to cut. I knew it could not get any worse.

I was wrong!
Today I still sit in from of the mirror in a beauty show - hoping for a transformation - but now I am not wishing for anything as specific as I did then.

Better is often good enough.