Having my hairs did...

Pin curls are Celia's favorite torture device.
But, I have to admit, they look good when she's done.

My daughter loves to play with my hair.  She is doing it right now, in fact.  Many mommies have had their pre-school and school age daughters play with their hair and create exciting new styles for Mommy to wear to the store.  Whenever I see a Mom at the store with a lot of hairpins or colorful barrettes or scrunchies in their hair, I think, "Now, there's a great Mom."  The more color and accessories there are, the younger the child.  It's a way of allowing a child to nurture you, much in the same way that they show their love for you as toddlers by trying to feed you their Cheerios.

Celia, now 16, is really quite gifted with hair.  She inherited what I affectionately call "the Southern Hair Gene" from her paternal grandmother.  This is the gene that allows a woman to make a few little shifts in her hair whorl, and apply a little bit of gel or hairspray to make a crew cut look like a runway creation.

I have no gift for styling hair.  If it can't be done in less than 5 minutes, I want no part of it.  I was a complete failure at the 80's Big Hair era.  It would stand up in the bathroom at home, but by the time I got to school it would have fallen back into it's thick brown waves all over my head.  I couldn't imagine getting up at 5 AM to do my hair for school.  The product they had to have used!  I... just...can't...

This is what I did NOT look like in High School.

For my senior picture I actually went to a salon to have my hair done for me.  I never ever looked like my senior picture at school.  The majority of my school years I had very short hair that I had permed to look like a demented poodle.

Sometime in my 30's I decided to stop fighting with my hair and just let it be what it was.  I no longer colored it.  I no longer permed it.  I just let it grow and put it up.  I have grown to like the way that God made me.  I think, maybe, he did a pretty good job.  And, actually, I think I look better now than I did in my 20s when I was busily trying to be something I was not.

The finished product.  Nice, job, kiddo!

Celia always tells me that my hair is beautiful.  It's thick and wavy and it's the color of precious metals. I am so grateful to have a daughter who thinks that I am beautiful.  It makes me feel just a little special and very humble, because it's nice when someone you love and you think is one of God's most beautiful creations thinks you're beautiful, too.