Wanting What You Don't Have

My husband and son (with 76 year old grandpa along) just left to go spring turkey hunting. They'll be gone the whole weekend or until they get a turkey...my money's on the whole weekend. They go to my SIL/BIL's land down in southern Minnesota where last year, they got skunked (unless you count hearing turkeys), although my son did get his first deer there last fall. It's a time of male bonding that, quite frankly, I can do without. We (the girls and I) have gone with them a couple times and stayed at a hotel while they hunt but I really think it's better this way.

So, the girls and I will do what girls do. I'll take the two older girls for their post dance recital haircut. For those not in the know, most dance recitals require the girls to wear their hair in a certain fashion; that being one that is usually pulled away from their face, so having longish hair is pretty much required unless you want to use an entire can of Aquanet and a full package of bobby pins. So, I invoke the mom law* that states that there will be NO haircuts until after the recital, starting at Christmas, just to be sure. My youngest (almost 8) was VERY anxious (as in excited) to get her hair cut and we did that on Tuesday, cutting off enough to send to Locks of Love. She was easy. It's my older two (13 and 10) who will drive me to PROZAC, (yes, in this case it IS capitalized).

I guess I'm to blame for being just as opinionated as they are (so, they get it honestly), but frankly, I don't GET it. I seriously do NOT like the style girls (that's girls in general) their age are wearing their hair. The most popular being the ironed straight, side sweep that just looks stringy (because it's cut to look like that) and is perpetually in their face. Seriously. IM(everso)HO, it is completely lacking in style. Now, here is the struggle that I am planning on surrendering to: my girls...they won't actually style it to the cut. They'll just pull it back into a pony (with the ever present fist full of bobby pins) and call it good. Uh...we can do that now so why bother cutting it, or cutting it into a style? If we just leave it as it is at least I won't be struggling next dance recital trying to figure out how to wrap 3/4 in of hair around a sponge roller in order to achieve the required curl. Oh, and let's be clear...*I* am the one responsible for the curl.

So, because I am so totally opposed to the straight stringy style, I'm going to 'bribe' them with perms. OH, it won't be the tight geri-curl perm (like that of Sister Purification, my 9th grade French teacher), but rather using probably the white and purple rods (yes, I am well acquainted with the rod colors) for the oldest, and the peach for the 10 yo. The oldest has thick AND dense hair. By that I mean I typically have to struggle to get the biggest pony around her hair 2x (she'll be lucky to get the pony around once AP). The 10 yo has hair that is fine but she has a lot of it. Hers is the hair that tends to look stringy. I need to know that for either one, they just will need to dampen their hair for it to be anything other than a stringy mess. A perm was my only option (for them...heh, heh, heh).

Of course, no one is ever satisfied with what they have. When you have straight hair, you want curly. When you want curly, you have straight. It's a the epitome of no-win situations. So what's a mom to do? We cave (although not gracefully) and let them learn to be careful what you wish for.

On that note...wish me luck. The "she is getting a perm too?" argument has already begun. And to think, I was thankful for a testosterone free weekend. I might be ready to join the boys turkey hunting next year.

*the law that states what I say goes because it makes MY life easier and for no other reason