Wednesday, December 21, 2005
I had a unique pleasure tonight. I watched Merry Christmas Charlie Brown - the original 1965 one, with Alesia. She loved it. It was such a joyful ritual to watch it every year when I was growing up. It makes me so thankful to finally have a daughter to share it with.
Alesia and Mother and I all went to Fantastic Sams for haircuts tonight. Alesia and I just needed the ends trimmed, but Mother needed a real cut. The funny part is that We all walked in, and there was nobody in the shop. There was an older man and a middle-aged Hispanic lady. Mother said to him “I need a haircut, and my daughter and granddaughter need cuts, too. Is this lady the only stylist working?” He said “Yes, just her.” Then he noticed Alesia’s hair and grinned. “I will take care of her!” he said. I walked in about that time [I had been parking the car], so I didn’t realize it was a minidrama until Mother told me later.
I explained to the man that Alesia didn’t want a cut, just the split ends trimmed. He consulted me from then on. He shampooed her hair. He blew it dry until it was straight –she loved that. It was only the second time she had had her hair done in a salon.
All evening she has been tossing her hair, and playing with it. It’s quite comical.
I have thought a lot today about some friends of our family whose daughter died in the plane crash off Miami on Monday. Such a tragic thing, right before Christmas. I sent out an e-mail to some friends asking for prayers for the family we know. They are lovely people. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing my child – at any age.
Mother’s brother Don and his wife will be in town next week, and we thought they were coming over. They haven’t confirmed that. Mother is rather blue about that. If they don’t come, she will be crushed. She has had such a terrible, painful year, and keenly missed her older brothers.
It’s during the bad times you want your family around you.