Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Yin and the Yang

I should've seen it coming when I plucked these two little gems from the bottom of my washing machine's tub after a load of laundry the other day.

I always find interesting things resting after the spin cycle in the bottom of the wash tub. Usually I find rocks of several varieties and sizes, legos, hair clippies or contraband candy wrappers. Ketchup packets aren't the norm, and I was pretty surprised that they had managed to survive the beating they must've received during the entire wash cycle.

I rescued them off the bottom of the washing machine after I'd emptied all the clothes into the dryer, and thanked my lucky stars. I had no idea that Wyatt stashed a few of these in his pockets at the movie theater the other night (just in case he needed more ketchup on his hot dog), and I imagined the mess that could've been had they exploded with the load of clothes.

The next few days breezed by rather easily (other than all the snow).

And then, then the flip side ran it's way around my narrow escape from a washing machine coated with ketchup and smacked me square in the kiester! Because that's what always happens when you realize you just avoided disaster. Something else has to restore the balance and I should have been more prepared, but I was distracted, flying high on shopping endorphins again (hello, I love Target) and the sense of accomplishment that I'd just printed out all my pictures for the Christmas cards that were waiting to be sent.

We pulled in the garage, Katie and the boys ran in the house while I grabbed the bags from the car. I opened the door and, much to my surprise, there stood my daughter with a pair of scissors in her hand. She had a look on her face that I hadn't seen before and I asked her "Katie, did you cut your hair?". "No" flew out of her guilty lips.

I put my bags down, took the scissors from her hands and examined her hair. I thought maybe I had been mistaken, maybe my eyes needed to be checked, maybe the light was too dim downstairs. . . then we went into the kitchen, and I saw it. The blunt edges of her beautiful, fine baby hair sheared off 1/2" from her scalp.



She left a wispy piece right in the middle of her new "bangs", giving her a rather unique look. I am left trying to figure out what to do with this? We had vowed not to cut her hair, not to give her bangs, to let her locks follow their natural drift to the side of her cheek. Her hair was cooperating beautifully, and her former "front hair" or "bangs" were getting long enough to tuck behind her ear, or secure with a cute hair clip. And now what? I know that after her morning bath and blow dry, we will be able to see the situation better, but I'm going to toss and turn all night.

Bangs, or no bangs?

See what happens, it all comes around, the yin and the yang, eventually.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh no! I so remmebering cutting my hair for the first time and ending up with bangs! Tough spot. I just cut my daughters bangs because her hair wasn;t cooperating and she couldn;t see and I know how hard of a choice that was for me and I still doubted what I did after. Good luck and let us know what you do.

Woman with Kids said...

Oh, I did that in class one day. The teacher made me stop halfway through; half too long and in my eyes (which is why I cut it!) and half wayyyy up at my scalp. Lovely!

Girlplustwo said...

ahhh. it's like a rite of passage or something.

i think she actually did ok...and spared her eyeballs. that gets extra credit.

Jill said...

Bangs or No Bangs is sort of the eternal question, isn't it? I still struggle with that one.

I also think that she did OK. It could have been much, much worse.

Mamacita Tina said...

Not too bad. I knew someone who shaved one of his eyebrows off. What do you do then, shave off the other one too?

Anonymous said...

Look at it this way... at least your Christmas photo for your cards has already been taken!

Lisa said...

Now I have an idea of what I put my mama through many, many years ago when I did the same thing... (And then polished it off by coating my hair in vaseline!)

But she's SO ADOREABLE. And from the pics, you can hardly tell.

Sandra said...

My son's classmate gave him his first hair cut in preschool. Luckily in boys it can be sorted out pretty quickly.

I think she looks pretty cute myself.