Monday, July 4, 2011

Se fue

Shortly after I posted the last post this morning I nearly went postal. My hair covered the keyboards, was all over my shirt, in my mouth...gross. I called Nick saying "Do you think the kids will freak if they come home to me bald?" His response was that it was going to happen sooner or later, so it might as well be today.

So I called my girlfriend Lisa who is good with these things and asked her to come over and shave my head. I think she needed a shot of tequila but she got through it fine. Actually, I showed her how it was falling out and she immediately was all "Um, we're so getting rid of that" type of business and started buzzing away. The only thing I had to worry about was her gathering up the hair and crafting some sort of hat for me.

It was short and painless and so for the rest of the day I've been getting used to it.  Here is the result...

I knew that had to get out of the house and into the public immediately or I would totally lose my nerve. What should I wear out? I grabbed my favorite scarf, one that my best girl Sharleen gave me on my wedding day and wrapped it around my head. It feels strange wearing a scarf, I mean, WHY? But I figured that 1) it's something I should try and 2) my newly shorn head would surely burn if I didn't. Then I set off to the one safe place I could go, Morgan & York (my favorite coffee shop) to test out the new look. It was fine. Friends were lovely. Nobody freaked out. Then, emboldened by the move, I drove to Whole Foods to really test the stare factor. A few glances, nothing too bad. Added some 50 protection spray sunscreen to my repertoire and decided to move on to the final test.

I met my friend Joanna downtown for a celebratory glass of champagne. A few hours outdoors in downtown Ann Arbor (under the shade and protected by the sunscreen) with nothing on. No hat, no scarf, just me and some red lipstick and my crazy big glasses. I am sure people thought "WTF?" but it was totally liberating. Not even little kids stared to much. Huzzah!

I'm not sure this is the look I am going to rock all the time, but it is nice to feel like I have options. And, my mother who was so neurotic about keeping our heads nice and round did me so right.

So, I stepped across the crevasse and onto solid ground. It's not necessarily the look I'd choose, but it's the look I have for now and I am going to do the best with it I can.

2 comments:

  1. Oh, I totally see shades of Sinead! You look gorgeous! Your outing sounds a lot like my first trip in public as a nursing mom...so intimidating, people staring, and then...nothing. I got comfortable in my own skin and didn't notice whether people stared or not...I just didn't care.

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  2. You look amazing, woman! LOVE!

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