Karma’s coming!

Karma is coming to get me again.

As a teenager I might have been a little rebellious. I didn’t always listen to and adhere to my parents advice regarding hairstyles. I let my hair grow a “little” longer than they would have liked.

I didn’t have The Ed Sullivan Show, “Beatles” hair. My parents would have been happy with that! I had Led Zeppelin, Peter Frampton hair. It was the kind of hair that didn’t necessarily hang in any one direction. My hair didn’t stand up, it kind of hung there, making several switchbacks and “S”curves before it got to the bottom.

Judging what I know now, I would have to say my parents didn’t really approve of my “style”. Looking back, I remember my mom saying things like, “Hey, Grandpa is coming over, why don’t you get a haircut for him?” or “I will give you twenty bucks to get that (construction language) cut off.” Twenty bucks was big money back then, I now realize how much she wanted me to cut my hair.

My dad? He didn’t say much. He pretty much gave up and quit talking altogether. He was working, I was growing my hair. It worked pretty well for both of us.

I passed my switchback hair gene down to girls in my family. (My father passed it down to me.) The boys got the straight hair gene from their mother.

During the teenage years of my first batch of kids, Ivy decided her hair was “poofy”. Being the ever sensitive father that I was/am, I told her “your hair isn’t “poofy”, it’s just big.” Surprisingly, that didn’t make Ivy feel any better.

Over the years, Ivy cut, grew, dyed, straightened, and tied up her hair. I always thought it looked great. However, I learned my lesson and I found that it was better not to comment on how “big” I thought her hair was/is. I have learned that if it is OK with Elaine, it is OK with me. (No matter what my opinion is.)

The middle school Christmas dance was this past week. (Yes, this fits in with the hair story.) Girl Twin was invited to a sleepover that would result in her getting ready for the dance at a friend’s house.

Girl Twin, her friend and her friend’s mother thought it might be nice to straighten Girl Twin’s hair. Yes, Girl Twin has the same “poofy/big” hair that Ivy enjoys. The friend’s mother telephoned Elaine to discuss Elaine’s feelings on the hair straightening thing. Elaine was all for it. Of course, I was not involved in the conversation.

With the sleepover, I didn’t actually see Girl Twin until the day after the dance. It took about an hour of being with her for me to notice something was different. Finally she walked up to me and said, “We straightened my hair, do you like it?” I started thinking, “I’ve made this mistake before, tell her it looks nice.”

While speaking the words, “Your hair looks nice, honey”, I was thinking, “I am looking at a miniature version of 1960′s Cher. Elaine’s got to do something about this!”

Elaine informed me I need to keep my opinion to myself, just like I needed to with Ivy. Elaine thinks Girl Twin looks “cute”. I would never describe Cher as “cute”. Mini-Cher is not “cute”.

Ivy gave me the same advice I received from Elaine, only louder. I am going to be living with Mini-Cher.

Mom, I’m sorry!

Our crazy lives!

Monner