Morning routines.

Yesterday, I had a hair appointment. Agenda: Turn curly into straight and trim. I think I had excellent results. I am excited to finally reuse my hair dryer and curling iron for a tad curl at the bottom. I like to curl my hair out using a big 1 inch iron. I have a history with curling irons. Growing up, I liked to curl my bangs with this, then add tons of hair spray:

In junior high, I decided braces needed a cooler hairstyle, so I let my hair grow really long and curled it in spirals at the bottom every morning. Ah, yes, those were the days of self-discipline to be in bed early and rise early without any help from a cup of coffee in the morning. 🙂 I still had my long hair in high school but found myself rushed for time in the mornings, so most often it was just long and wet when I arrived to school. I got my first perm my senior year of high school. I loved it. I loved not having to spend time in the morning drying my mass loads of hair when I could just put in a little mousse and be on my way! Since then, I have gone from long curly, to long straight; short straight, to no hair, to puffy hair growing in, back to short straight hair, curly and now straight. Grass always seems greener on the other side when I change from one style to the other. I decided that I am thankful for my hair, no matter how thin with random bald spots that it may have.

As kids, we liked to watch Little Women (1994), a movie based off the Louisa May Alcott’s novel.

It is a wonderful story of a family with four girls. Their father is fighting in the war (Civil War) and they are all becoming different ladies with their own styles, interests and dreams. They are not a rich family, but learn to bless others who are in need. One Christmas, they share their meal with another family, singing “Ding Dong Merrily On High” at the top of their lungs on the walk to their destination. The rich old neighbor has a grandson, whom they come to call “Laurie”; he becomes like family and in the end he does (along with his tutor, named John.) 🙂 Their stories of growing up together with sister times of tears and laughs, to finding love and starting their own families all in one piece is a joy to watch. I really like the story. We always joked about the movie, because growing up…the personalities of the four girls matched to my sisters and I almost exact. Which one of the March sisters do you think I am??

Meg

Jo

Beth

Amy

You can read here for descriptions in the first paragraph of the plot if you are not sure of their characters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Women_(1994_film). You will note that it talks about the way they called their mother, “Marmee”. We adopted that into our family and still sometimes call our mom by that term. Very affectionate indeed. 🙂 Speaking of which, my mom did this artwork with stencils. It hangs in my room. I like looking at it every morning, of course, my hair is not always done that nice in buns or braids, but I do have a hat sort of that style just not with ribbon attached. 🙂

Sisters. I love my sisters. Sure, we have had our fair share of quarrels, but they are my sisters and always will be. We used to do our hair together in the upstairs bathroom. We talked to each other in the reflection of the mirror instead of turning our heads. No wonder I got so good at lip-reading. 🙂 I am sure we had some funny quotes about our hair, but since I cannot think of one, I will tell you my favorite off Little Women. The March family gets word that their Father is wounded and Marmee needs to travel to help him. They have little money, so Marmee sends Jo to ask Great-Aunt March (who has plenty) if she could spare some for the journey. Jo does not have the heart to ask for money, so she sells her hair. Jo takes off her hat coming into the room and Amy says, “Jo, how could you? Your one beauty.” HAHA. If my one beauty were based on hair, then I would be in quite a pickle. I am so glad God does not see it that way either. He sees the heart (I Samuel 16:7).

As I go get ready for the day, I will remember (1) God knows the exact number of hairs that are left on my head, so there is no need to obsess over my bald spots (Luke 12:7); (2) I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14); and (3) God will provide, so I do not have to worry (Matthew 6:25-33). That already makes getting ready in the morning quite a pleasant experience. Add a cup of coffee and sunshine…it is going to be a good day!

Enjoy your Friday. More to come…