Going gray or grey (as they say in Canada eh!)

 In our journey through life we tire, and then we rest. My hair is doing just that. Yes, I said my hair. I think my hair is tired of being covered up. Okay, it is me. I am tired of wondering what is going on under the various shades that I have been using on my hair for a number of years. I am not even sure when I first began coloring my hair, or why. Perhaps it began with a few hennas based on the theory it would help my very dry hair. The next thing I know I am in my 50’s coloring my hair every couple of months and wondering what lurks beneath. Everyone has highlights in their hair, but mine is really, really multicolored. My true color, when I was younger. I would classify as auburn, probably a dark auburn. This came from my father’s side of the family, some good Scottish blood there. But now, I don’t know. I see almost every color on my head, except black.

So, I am 6 months into this process. These are the thoughts I have jotted down.

* During my birthday month, I make the decision, I will stop dying my hair and see what happens.

* A few days in and I have bought colored mousse just in case.

* I think I feel empowered. At the football game I really do not see anyone with gray hair. We have become a society of youth seekers; well, I will different. I will buc the trend.

* Gray is a fashion color this spring. Yeah, my hair will be in style!

* I bought the rinse in the blue bottle. Didn’t I see this in my grandmother’s cupboard?

* Having doubts, will I look too old?

* A girl at work says when the gray has come in I should take a picture and send it to  “Oil of Olay” because my skin looks so good and natural and soon my hair will also. Really?

* So, if I panic, I can color it anytime.

* My Mother has not said a word about my hair. She would if she noticed it. Is it her eyes or is this process not as visible to others?

*I had dinner with a friend who recently let her gray grow in. She noticed immediately.

*It is now three months in and I am not sure how I feel.  The other evening someone said my hair looked white and pretty. But, she was leaning into the car in the dark of night and had had a drink so who knows. I think for days it looks good and then I think it looks terrible and I avoid the mirror.

* My younger daughter came home and said it was obvious what I was doing with my hair.

* I am so tall I sometimes wonder if anyone can see my roots.

* I think if you are stylish you can look good no matter what color your hair is.

*When I look at people who are older their skin is old. Their eyes are scary old, as if the light within is diminishing. Does the hair color matter? Or does it take a little attention away from the old eyes?

*And what about people of whom you ask no opinion? They just volunteer their ideas. It goes like this. “Let me see what you are doing with your hair? Followed by “WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR HAIR?” “Well, I think you should blah, blah, etc etc….and if your hairdresser is not available, mine is.  She, whose breasts are hanging down to her bellybutton. Has she not heard of bras, ones with wires in them and ones to hide ones nipples. Women get their hair dyed all colors of the rainbow and then let their breasts rest on their knees.

More to follow…

Use February 29th as a Bonus Day

Today we receive a gift, an extra 24 hours, wrapped up as February 29^th.  2012 is a leap year. Leap years are years which contain one additional day to keep the calendar year in sync with the seasonal year.

Are we really gaining time? I am not sure. But, I am game to act like we have. The subject of 'time' is on everyone's lips. Mostly, that there is not enough. So, we have an extra 24 hours this year! Wonderful! What will you do with the extra day this year; the 24 hours…1440 minutes…86400 seconds? A writer of science fiction, Ray Cummings, wrote in 1922, "Time... is what keeps everything from happening at once". So true! I sometimes am doing so many things that I find myself in the hallway going around in a circle, my brain and body screaming "stop"! Considering that looming prediction that the world will possible end in doomsday this year I am grabbing every moment  I can and savoring it, not all at once, but separately. I start with February 29th. 

It would be great  if the world would pause. We could simply push a special button, like we  do with our ipod. Time would stand still. We could all use a day when we did nothing, absolutely nothing, just be.  I doubt that will happen. We all have our bucket list and our even smaller rainy day list. One of the things on my rainy day list has been to launch my blog. It is at little scary, like jumping off the high dive, but at this moment there seems to be some good symmetry, an extra day to do it and a moment of reflection at the passing of  Jan Bernstein. The Bernstein Bears books are now into their second generation in our family. Thank you Jan and Stan Bernstein for the stories you gave us.

So, I hope you give yourself permission to do something impulsive, skip down the street,  call your grandpa, read a book, anything with these extra 24 hours, go ahead: buc the trend!