Bang On

Today (June 10) Jessie met me at the mall after school so she could get her hair cut. That was a disaster, although she is fine with the cut now. Jessie has developed her own relationship with the esthetician (a delightful young woman with brightly coloured hair and a way with Jess) and the people at the salon. She negotiates her own way with the hair dresser, but yesterday was a challenge. Jessie kept telling her to cut the sides shorter, but she didn’t want bangs. Insistent about that. But what is the demarcation point for bangs? “Shorter,” says Jessie. “Do you want bangs?” asks the hairdresser. “No!” says Jessie. So the hairdresser stops just short of bangs, but Jessie doesn’t like the way the hair falls into her eyes. “Shorter!” she commands. “But I can’t go any shorter without turning them into bangs!” says the hairdresser! (I exit at this point. Is that cruel of me? I just wander out into the mall.) “But I don’t want them falling into my eyes!” says Jessie! She flips her head angrily. The hairdresser eyes me with what looks like panic as she sees me walking out of the salon. I leave them to figure it out. When I turn around Jessie is walking towards the cash with tears in her eyes, shaking her head and trying to get the bangs/not bangs out of her eyes. I let her pay, then meet her outside the salon. “But I don’t like them falling in my eyes!” she wails. The hairdresser comes out. Everyone is looking at us. “Is she all right?” she says? “She wanted them shorter, but not bangs, so I tried to do what she asked!?” I tell her its okay. It’s a learning opportunity! (She looks at me as if I am the most insane mother she has ever met . . .) Jess and I sit down at a table in the food court and go over what happened. I’m still not sure what she envisioned, but we talk about communication and I assure her that she looks beautiful (she does!). Then, as she is walking, and she flips the hair out of her eyes, and suddenly turns from sullen into delighted! “I think I am just like Stella in the Jonas Brothers, see!” and she flips her hair again, in some—only known to her—gesture that is obviously mimicking what she has seen on TV. It’s all okay now! She is just like a character on TV that she idolizes and life is fine. Hooray for TV I say (but not out loud)!