when I was a little girl
I wanted to be a Barbie doll
didn't we all?
Over the years, I grew into a 1970 full fledged bell-bottomed, halter-topped
hipster hippie chick who never wanted to get married, have kids, eat meat, do drugs,
drink or smoke or do one single fake thing
E.V.E.R.
quite the contrast from the Barbie doll phase
as I got older I imagined that some day I
M.I.G.H.T.
consider
coloring my hair and maybe doing a little something to my wrinkling face
when the time and budget allowed
and then
I turned 55
I reverted back to my 1970 self with my hipster 15 year old hippie chick mentality
(with the exception of 3 kids+ steak on the grill often+wine OFTEN)
I promised myself
no dying or cutting of hair
no cutting of face or neck
this is when I realized the ones I admired the most
had crowns of grey
my very great grandmother's hair was always in a bun
but I sometimes sat at her dressing table and watched as she let it down and
brushed it with her horned soft bristle brush
it was to the small of her back...silver and wavy
my mother turned 82 this December...her hair turned grey many years ago and it is very long also
I'm not sure what gave me the peace to just
let it be
to just let things be and occur as they would and will
but I have that peace
for my daughters, I want to be the kind of mother that doesn't try too hard
to hang on to fleeting beauty because it will part...no matter what I do
and what better example is this little beauty...I have a feeling that this is exactly what Betty
will look like when she's 92
I delight to wonder
what things in her life will turn her hair the most glorious color of grey
as my grandmother told me all of her life
beauty
is what you are on the inside