Thursday, September 29, 2011

Two to Tango

Not too long ago, I had a hairstylist I loved very much, and he loved me. Man, he gave good hair-washings  --  I gladly paid him every nickel he asked for his pricey cuts and color, plus a big fat tip for the time he spent with me at the sink. This was despite the fact that whatever I said I did not want, was what I got. If I said, "No red in the color, Jack; red is no good with my skin tone," then it was settled. Red it would be, a metallic, candy-apple red, something akin to what you might expect to see on a Corvette. (Jack was crazy-good with shine.) Oh well, I would think to myself, I guess Doug and I won't need to wear blaze orange in the mountains this hunting season.

This tango could not go on without two of us obviously, my hairdresser and me. I was a willing partner in the game of Let's Dress Judy Up. Over the years I've begun to understand a little better why a group of friends long before this began calling me Barbie no matter how much I protested, no matter how much I cussed and spit and told them to knock it off.

Wash my hair? OK, call me whatever you want.


I am thinking of this now as time hurtles me toward the tattoo appointment I've had for two weeks. I have thought about it plenty over the years, and then really really thought about it over the last 14 days. I have worked and reworked the design. I have done my utmost to find the right professional and artist. I also know very well what it's like to stand in front of the mirror and wonder if I even speak English  --  I who always thought of herself as pretty good in the language department.

Why do we find most alluring precisely what terrifies us? Would I go to all this trouble and expense, drive the hour and a half, plus endure the pain, if it weren't permanent?

No, I would not.



* By the way, the appointment is still something like 42 hours away, and I still reserve the right to back out.

5 comments:

  1. Great post! If it's not too personal, what kind of tattoo are you getting? Anyway, good luck with it all. Remember -- it IS permanent. So when you're 70...ah, you've gone through all that...

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  2. Damn it! Where's the "like" button for comments on this thing???

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  3. Cmon! That's so Farcebookish! Have fun! It would be great to do a follow-up post to describe the experience. Even if no pix,it would still be great to find out what you got done!

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  4. Oh -- I think it's pretty safe to say I will be blathering on about this for a while. And yes, surely a pic will get worked in somewhere, too. So long as he does what I expect!

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  5. To tat or not to tat too? That is the...um...something.

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