My hair is not as thick as it once was
but it is still coarse. I remember as a
small child before I could go to bed it had to be dried. My mom had this “hair dryer” that was made up
of several parts. It was a large plastic
base with a long thick tube attached to a very heavy (and big) shower cap.
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| Google Image |
The cap had elastic all around the
face. I would then sit on the floor and
try to watch television. Between my three brothers jumping from couch to chair
pretending to be wrestlers from Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, and what
seemed like extreme heat pumped into my head, I was miserable.
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| (Another Google Image - it isn't me, but it is so how I felt!) |
As a high schooler, I was introduced to
other vanity products for my hair. Now I
was using a blow dryer for my permed hair (remember I have coarse hair and I had a lot of hair.) So to add the
finishing touches to my bouffant, I would use the newly introduced curling
iron. This invention was a long barrel
that would heat up and you would wrap your hair around the very hot barrel and
the clip would hold it in place until you released it.
My high school friends and I were
constantly sporting new burns. Due to
the intense heat of the curing iron, we novice beauty “wanna-bes”, would
accidentally push the iron against our chin, neck or our ears. Even if my hair was looking TALL and big and
dry and curly, often it was often overshadowed by the one or two burn marks
silhouetting my face.
All that to say… I’ve got burns
again, this time on my hand.
My precious high school junior is our
only child at home. She doesn’t have her
big brother or sister to help her out.
She asks for my help with her new vanity inventions.
This past week our youngest asked that
I help her with the latest “curling wand.”
It is a handle with a cone shaped barrel that heats up to give the user
a ringlet effect. Did I mention it
doesn’t have a clasp? Did I mention it
heats up?
So what do you do with the hair after
you wrap it around the barrel of this very hot wand? Right! You hold it!
Are you kidding? You wrap the
hair around the barrel and with your thumb and index finger so close you have
to let go because of the heat.
Poor design for sure. (You know it is
bad when some of these curling wands come with a glove to prevent burns!)
After helping our daughter look like Shirley
Temple and she “bounced” off to school, I looked at my hands. There were several reminders I had been burned that
morning. Burns that will more than
likely fade into the growing amount of age spots.
But if I am so lucky, I won’t mind if I
have some scars. Truthfully, these burns
turned to scabs have made me smile this week.
They have been little reminders of the joys of motherhood. Mothering has many opportunities and joys. I
don’t have too many days left with a child in the home.
Regardless of the
bumps in the road today as you mother, I pray the “leftovers” from the activity
will bring a smile. Whether it is toys in the living room or a dirty ring in
the tub. Our days are numbered as a mom
with children in the home. As hard and
redundant as the laundry and the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and the
fighting and bickering with their siblings… Find the joy!
Recognize that even if the crayon
doesn’t come out of the drapes or the scratch won’t come out of the coffee
table these will be your little “burns” to remind you of the joys of being a
mom.
So this day I can smile at the burn
knowing it was worth it!
“This
is the Day the Lord has made
let
us rejoice and be glad in it!”
Psalm
118: 24
