Hair Today.....

Last Sunday was no day of rest in our house. It was a day of anguish, disbelief and resignation.

It all started innocently enough. I had just returned home from the overnight shift and was talking to my wife, who was in bed trying to fight off vertigo. Little did we know something was about to happen to make us both dizzy.

Rachel came into the room, knelt down between us and said something to the extent of "Notice anything different?" At first, I didn't. Then I noticed her bangs were, well, where were they? When she turned around, her braided ponytail had lost some length as well.

"Did you cut your hair?" I asked, my voice sounding alarmed. "What?" shrieked my wife, always proud of her long hair and Rachel's. Rebecca reached for her glasses and joined my alarm.

Rachel's rationale was three-fold. Her bangs were getting in her eyes and she didn't like that. Of course, now they had retreated to monk-length. She explained her hair was getting in the way when she ate. And she didn't want to see Miss Jeannie, our hairdresser, although by snipping her strawberry blonde locks, she had pretty much guaranteed herself a trip to see Miss Jeannie. She thought she could handle it, because "I'm 4 1/2."

To put it mildly, my wife went ballistic. For some time, she had been looking for the scissors which Rachel managed to find. For another, we couldn't find where Rachel went all Samson on herself.

I suggested we check her bathroom. And that is where we found the telltale evidence. A large clump of hair in the trash can and a couple of curly locks on the floor.

Rachel was the 4-year-old version of grounded. Her favorite cartoon shows and videos were placed off-limits. We would not be going out to eat. We put in a call to Miss Jeannie and waited.

I had already talked about how we needed to ratchet up Rachel's discipline. This was just more fuel for the fire. Rachel always says what's on her mind, like many children, but she was starting to go a little heavy on the backtalk, or as we say it in the south, the sass.

The next day, she was behaving a little better, but when I paused to discipline her at one point, she ordered me to "go to your room." That earned her a trip to hers. And when she came back out, she was returned to her bed until I retrieved her.

At some point in the midst of all this, Melinda from the accounting office at the Temple called to inform us that we were now paid in full for Rachel's tuition. I asked Rachel to pick up the phone when it rang. She apparently mistook Melinda for my sister and said, "Hello....I"m going to be good the rest of the day." Melinda and I got a big laugh out of that.

Tuesday morning, Rebecca spent 2 1/2 hours getting the tangles and snags out of Rachel's hair. We then drove to Miss Jeannie's. Our choices were trying to keep it as long as we could or cutting off 10 inches for Locks of Love to be donated to children with Alopecia. Rebecca put the decision on me. The last time I had to make a major hair decision was 15 to 20 years ago. I was a little rusty. Eventually, I decided we'd help people and get it cut short. Plus maybe it would teach Rachel a lesson.

We even discussed putting Rachel's hair in pigtails. Rachel said she had never worn her hair that way. I reminded Miss Jeannie, Rebecca and Rachel that as Jews, I wasn't sure we were allowed to put our hair in pigtails.

Even though she at first said she wanted her hair to stay long, Rachel seems perfectly happy with the new 'do. When you're 4 1/2, as long as everyone is talking about you, everything is cool.