Gray

My little Ellie is a fair child. Her hair is so blond and fine. On bright and sunny days it is so shiny that is almost seems to gleam. I catch myself frequently looking at her wondering how such a fair child could come from me. That's when I look at pictures of her father... she's all him.

My hair is dark and unruly and thick. Recently I've also begun to notice some gray hair. A few strands are beginning to silver, right where I typically part my hair. (Quite convenient, no?) Actually, the gray doesn't bother me so much. They add a little character to my plain hair. I feel a little like I've earned the gray. Like my experiences and life lessons have lead me to them.

My grandmother, in her 89 years has developed beautiful hair. The combination of black and silver is lovely and speaks of a life filled with moments... It's not covered over with anything false. It's true and real and makes me hope that my hair, and thus my life, will be filled with many moments as well.

What does bother me about graying is that it's most predominantly appearing in my eyebrows. I'm quite disturbed by my gray eyebrows. I'm not sure why, but these hairs grow overnight with the speed and ferocity that seems like it should wake me from my slumber.

Most mornings, I wake up only to find a two-inch gray hair shooting straight up, making me look like Martin Scorsese or Doc from Back to the Future. These hairs stick straight up or out or any which way they choose, making me look disgruntled until I can promptly remove the offending follicle. It's quite disturbing.

In the crazy eyebrow category I'm envious of my fair-haired daughter. Her delicate and dainty eyebrows will most likely never conspire to take over her face one hair at a time.