First Haircut

Annie is now 3 1/3 years old and has never had a haircut but anytime the topic was broached with the wife, her hands would go all clammy, her vision would blur and I would back away slooowly . . .

Finally the wife agreed and we set the date - New Years Eve (day).

I remember when I was a kid my dad would take me to Sal's barbershop in the lobby of his office building. Sal was a short, round and balding Italian man with a seemingly constant scowl. He had one of those big jars of blue liquid that held all the combs and right next to it was a big jar of bubble gum.

"You sit still, you get gum - you don't sit still - no gum", he would growl before he started. AND HE MEANT IT. On my best days I would get two pieces of gum. Mostly Sal would growl, "You wiggle a little - you get one". Every now and then, "NO GUM TODAY!" And I would leave crying for my lack of gum but still glad the ordeal was over. My how things have changed . . . .

We took the wee one to Pigtails and Crew Cuts which is basically the Disneyland of kids salons. For a couple extra bucks, they put the first lock of hair they cut in a card with a photo of Annie.

Annie mostly took it all in stride. Mommy had to be given a lollipop to keep her from crying.

The wife swears that they CHOPPED off a good 3 feet of hair. I'm pretty sure all they did was trim 1/2 an inch. The truth is somewhere in the middle I suppose . . .