lesson learned.

{i show you this picture for mere "before" reference. just a fun day on the snow slide!}

now, here's the story.

the day started quite well {all things considered} i've been pretty darn sick lately and today was the first time i awoke without a migraine! a good sign. it wasn't long before the phone rang and i knew in that instant who it was. {i always do!} my mom. yipee! i love me a good phone call from africa!

as hard as we try, my mother and i can never keep our conversations under an hour. we're working on keeping them under two. just for the sake of a good challenge.

so i settled bowen on my bed for a fun morning of cartoons. {i thought.} and i found a comfortable spot in the living room to sit on the sofa and talk. the girl kind. without any interruptions.

soon after (okay maybe it was an hour later...time flies when i'm talking with mom) bowen came into the living room.

his sweet little hands were full of what looked liked his beautiful locks of hair. but no, it couldn't be. he didn't look any different. then he said it, "i cut my hair mom!" so i started the examination. sure enough. there was a spot in the back that was bald. my first reaction was simple, 'it can be saved.' then i started putting my fingers through it and more and more locks fell to the floor. 'oh no'. i thought you only had to worry about these things with daughters. like when i played 'beauty parlor' with my friend erin and her and i cut each others hair right off. my mom still doesn't let me live that story down. (so sorry mom)

but not my boy! boy's don't cut hair.

after ending my conversation with my mom. i immediately thought of my most trusted hair dresser. surly she could salvage the hair. there had to be a way to blend the bald with the shag. there just had to be. well, apparently she doesn't work on saturdays. she's that good. so i thought of my second most trusted hair dresser and called her right away. surely she too had the skills to keep my baby looking fab.

but again, not in on saturdays.

in hind sight, i should have sat back and thought this through. today is saturday. we have no fancy plans. tomorrow we could play the "sunday sickness card" {cause i really am sick, and keeping bowen home with me would only be a partial lie} monday is presidents day, bowen has no preschool and i have no school either. it would be a perfect day to contact the best hairdressers around and save the hair.

but no, my panic had taken over and i felt it necessary to fix as soon as possible. my third idea, was to pick one of the nicer salons, the ones that charge the most. they're certain to have the most experience, knowledge, expertise....whatever you want to call it. and this is what i did. the fact that they could see him in one hour, made me a little nervous. i mean, the good ones are busy, right? but then i figured they're probably being nice and squeezing him in while someone gets their highlights dried. so i agreed to the appointment.

upon walking in, i had that feeling. the one where you see the person without a client and think to yourself....please of please don't let it be her. {call me judgmental, call me rude....i don't care...i was worried} sure enough, she greeted us with a smile and before i knew it my little man was hoisted up in her chair. now don't get me wrong, she was cute. in a fourteen-year old kinda way. her lack of confidence just radiated from her petit little physic. that's where the worry came from. i was grateful that i had a picture with me and a good way of explaining what i wanted her to do.

before i could even blink, she had taken a massive amount off the sides. NOOOO! by now my heart was racing and i was trying my hardest to convince myself that hair grows and that this was all going to be okay. little boys look darling with short hair all the time, and it would just take me a while to get used to it. then i remembered that i've been trying to grow my own hair out for.ev.er. and if bowen takes after me at all, we may be looking at the military thing for a while. because, quite frankly the military was were it was headed. and then of course there is the fact that his head is a little misshapen. he's got a really weird calic and an even weirder bump. we're better off covering those flaws up! i tried to relax, take deep breaths, smile and even say things like...."looks good" so that she would rap it up and send me on my way.

THEN.

a lady came back to ask her if she would be willing to do a highlight later on. i instantly saw the worry in this little girls face. but very sheepishly, she said yes. and that's when the hairdresser in the next booth said, "oh yeah! are you excited for your first color?" i wanted to stop her right there. even though only one side was done. i wanted to run out and wait till monday for someone who knew a little about hair and could help me. but i was too far into it now. isn't highlights and boy cuts kinda the basics of hair? maybe the fact that she looked 14 was because she was 14. and maybe, like i did with erin 20 years ago, she was just playing 'beauty parlor.'

the rest of the cut was somewhat of a blur. all i know is my little boy now looks different. not like a cute little man-differnt (he was already a little man), not all grown up and adorable-different (cause he was already grown up and adorable). just different.

when we got home i told bowen we needed a picture of his new hair cut. i grabbed the camera and actually told him, "ok, now frown." because a frown is how i felt inside. and if it would have been a picture of me, it would have been a frown. but bowen couldn't stop smiling!! in fact, he turned into a little model, striking poses left and right.

i'll admit. it was pretty cute. and i smiled.

{you can still see his obvious cut marks. tear.}

i haven't frowned in front of him. or cried. or even sighed at his new sight. maybe cause i'm in a state of shock from the morning's events. maybe because i know there is nothing i can do, and chalking this one up as just one crazy day with a three year old, is the best way to deal. cause lets be real...there are worse things.

like last week when he spilled grape juice on my beautiful white bed. or when he colored all over the final draft of my 10 page paper on monday. or when he splashed out a flood in the bathroom. i didn't frown then either. perhaps i'm learning that life is too short. and my little darling three-year old is just trying to learn his world. and i'm okay with all this. he can continue to explore his surrounding and get a little mischievous now and then. messes can be cleaned.

the lesson i did learn is quite simple:

i'm sticking with my hair dresser...even if i have to wait weeks.