HAIR

Here's someone whose hair I'd love to have...granddaughter Harper Grace.

THE LULU CHRONICLES

So last week I was canoeing on the Wisconsin River. Sleeping in tents. Living off the land… well, not really, but we did eat pretty well, thanks to my friend, Mary. She plans and packs the meals for the group. I’m pretty sure I gained a couple of pounds from all of the Nutella and peanut butter and Chicken Slop. I’d like to think the weight was new muscle from all the paddling, but I know better.

We had a great time. Even slept on a sand bar one night. When I camp, I loosen up a bit when it comes to grooming. I truly don’t think I combed my hair the whole trip. Just woke up, shook it out and put a hat on it. When I got home, I was aghast to see that I was sporting a unibrow. I didn’t pluck either, and my mustache needed attention. And, that long hair protruding from my chin was new. My legs were beginning to stick together like Velcro, and let’s not even talk about the underarms, okay? Let’s just say I was beginning to look very European.

What is it with hair, especially as we grow more … mature? Where’s it all coming from, I mean, really? When I was eighteen, I don’t think I ever had to trim my nose hairs, did you? Or, pluck errant hair from my top lip. And let’s not talk about what’s going on with the ears. Hair is starting to grow everywhere except where I want it—on the top of my head. I’m not going bald but my crowning glory is not as thick as it used to be.

Aging toys with us and taunts us like a bully on the playground. Maverick hair growing in odd places is just one of it’s nasty tricks. So, what can we do about this?

Make peace with it and keep your tweezers handy. Nothing is as sad to me than seeing an old movie star who has over done it with the plastic surgery. Lips puffed up like sponges. Cheekbones realigned. Skin peeled down to the bone. And, electrolysis’s out the wa-zoo.

Bodies are going to change as they age. They just are. Our jobs are to keep them as healthy as we can, and cleaned and fueled. Beyond that, we’re grasping at the wind.

It’s not the gray hair, or chin hair, or lip hair or knuckle hair or any other kind of hair that should define us. It’s who we are down deep that matters. It’s the heart. The soul. The spirit. And, well, if hair starts growing on any of that… embrace it. Style it Go with it. It was just meant to be.

Later,

deb