that hair

Not a day goes by without the boys getting some sort of remark from someone, friend or stranger, about their hair. Both of them, but especially Garrett, get comments about the color -- how blindingly blond it is! Out west, hair this color is not unusual, but here, amid a sea of people of Middle Eastern, Asian, and Hispanic decent, blond hair is an anomaly. One old lady even declared to me recently that it was high time there was more hair this color in the neighborhood. While her comment was totally inappropriate and racially hurtful, it might give you an idea of how uncommon this shade of coloring is here.


And then there's Caleb's hair, which is, in a word, awesome. In two words -- outrageously awesome. No matter my efforts, his wild hair cannot be tamed. Contrary to what I once predicted, over time Caleb's hair has become more and more blond. But while Garrett will be a towhead for the rest of his life, I still hold to my conviction that Caleb's will likely get darker as he gets older. In fact, his will probably turn a little darker over the winter. But for now, there's no getting around the fact that he's blond, too.


While I love Caleb's hair kept a little longer, I know it's time to cut it when it becomes heavy and long enough to actually fall flat and into his eyes. Garrett's was getting a little straggly, too, so yesterday I took them both in for haircuts. Garrett, as he always does after a haircut, looks sharp and much older. Caleb won't hold still for anything, let alone a pair of scissors, so his trim turned out a little lopsided. I did my best to fix it later, but, again, he won't hold still for anything.


I have my mother to thank for my blond hair, and my boys have me to thank for theirs. So, at least for now, I have two blondies. I'm a little surprised, given Blake's dark brown hair, that I had enough pull in the gene pool to give them both my coloring, but I'll take it. Having them around does a good job of keeping people from wondering if my hair is naturally blond as well. But Blake didn't totally escape contribution --Caleb's wild lion 'do definitely came from him. And, really, given how outrageously awesome that hair of his is, I'm glad it did.