Salt and Pepper

Today, on the playground, G's daughter finally noticed my grey hair and said that I could be a grandma. Fair enough! She is only 8 and she has no filters. She was refreshingly being honest. I didn't mind at all.

Before I proceed, I am going to give G's daughter a name. This is her second appearance here. I am going to call her Lily after my favourite flower. And she is like a lily...pure and innocent in her perception of the world around her.

I have had people beg, demand, plead and request to colour my hair. My own mother is one of them. My friends are some of them. Some random people rounding up the rest of them! Really?! What is the problem?!

...let us fix your hair...let us fix your teeth...let us fix your weight...let us fix you up from top to bottom...

On some days, I am glad I don't have a daughter. I wouldn't know what I would have done if I had one and she succumbed to the pressure of it all?!

But these days, it is not easy for boys either. There is a tremendous pressure to look a certain way for the selfie generation.

In the middle of their summer vacation, I somehow convinced the boys to get buzz cuts. They were very obedient and vanity didn't set in till they saw themselves. ASid literally had a hat on his head from the time he woke up to the time he went to bed. He had a hat on his bed side! Hans, on the other hand, went all dramatic on me. He was like his hair is never going to grow back ever!

Chances are one or both of the boys might lose their hair at a later time in their lives. There is only that much power I can exercise over genetic predisposition. Sometimes, I have to admit defeat to the natural progression of the proverbial circle of life.

So, why am I writing about this at all?!

Well, I am hoping that the boys will not give importance to outward appearances and are able to dig deep within to find better things to fret over...if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Whoever said it had a good point.

And I want to share something someone else said to me a few months ago. This someone was the Principal at Hans' school. As I breezed into her office one day with my hair unkempt and wild, she looked at me and said the following:

I love the confidence with which you wear your salt and pepper.

They were kind words. I am not sure if it is exactly confidence. Some people may call it laziness or negligence. But I don't care! My hair, my way!

But I did tell Lily that she could colour my hair. If she remembers our conversation the next time, I am going to go out and buy her the biggest marker she requested...so she could have fun with my hair.

I do not want to talk life lessons with an innocent little girl, but I want Lily to remember that there was this one woman who was willing to let a child mess with her hair...because at the end of the day, it is just hair!