crazy hair day

a flame-haired isaac & purple-maned jacob

crazy hair day is officially awesome. sure, it was raining. and really cold. and during a random week in february. but, still, awesome.

isaac told us that he wanted his hair to look "like fire". i don't think we achieved that...but we had fun trying. and his hair was actually astonishing to look at.

jacob did not want his hair to be touched. at least, initially. he started to warm up after seeing isaac's technicolor hair. ragain sealed the deal by showing him how easy it was to wash the colored hairspray off. that's when he said, "purple". we tried to persuade him to add another color, but jacob tends to be a fan of the less-is-more ideology.

with the big boys off to school, those colored hairsprays just begged to tint our little blondie-locks. and, in spite of hating all hair-related activities, like washing, cutting, brushing and gelling, lucas was instantly on board. he picked purple, too...

would it be wrong to make this permanent? because, i might love it. LOVE.

i mean, look at it in the sun!!!!

LOVE.

anyway, after picking up the twins from school with lucas and my mom, we headed out to t.j. maxx.

side note: until very recently, i hated t.j. maxx because i do not enjoy digging through piles of remnants. however, it seems that lowering my expectations (to zero) is really what makes this particular shopping experience enjoyable.

anyway, i was looking (vaguely---and with zero expectations) for a kitchen rug and i was running out of places to look. so, i thought maybe a far-flung t.j. maxx might be just the place.

it wasn't.

however, while looking (digging) through the kitchen utensils, and holding onto jacob and lucas, a woman with a cart comes behind us. i was mostly unaware of her until she said, "great hair!"

should i remind you? this was my merry little band at that point:

i laughed as i turned to look over my shoulder at her, and said, "yeah, crazy hair day at school."

she laughed, too. but then looked sort of confused. she started to walk away, and then said, "uh, you have great hair, too."

then, i looked confused. but she was already gone. and i couldn't clarify whether or not she meant to compliment my disheveled ponytail and baby-bang-feathers. i think i might have been better described as sloppy, or war-torn.

i might have talked myself into accepting that maybe she thought i DID have great hair. but i didn't have time to get too high on her kindness, because as i dumped my finds onto the counter, tried to help isaac to pay for his souvenir and still keep my smile from slipping straight off my face, the cashier gave me a look of concern and said,

"looks like you have your hands full."

and for a second, i felt the weight of it. my messy hair. my slippery smile. my sometimes-short-temper. a stranger's guess that i don't have it all together. the mile-long to-do list that is waiting for me at the start of every day, and how i won't get it done. my failures and weaknesses and frailties. a reality that is hard, and different.

and as quickly as it settled on my shoulders, i took a breath and smiled. i nodded at her and said, "indeed", before bobbing out the door with my rainbow-colored lovelies and our collective great hair.