“Something Good” Sunday
There has never been a moment when I have felt like an adult. My brain tells me all the time that I am still 18 years old. Though, honestly, I’m thankful I’m really not. I just don’t feel my age. Even though I’m old enough to have to get yearly mammograms and I’m in the throes of perimenopause, I just don’t feel like I’m an adult. Maybe I’m desensitized to it now. I’ve been paying bills and living away from my parents for so long that it’s just normal feeling now. I suppose I could think of a point during my first year of college when I felt like I had grown up. There’s just not one moment that I can pinpoint.
Now, having said all of that, there was a moment on Friday where I felt like I was 8 years old again, and I was delighted.
I have three older sisters. Depending on what you want to know about my family dynamics, I only communicate with Jenny and Paula, who are from my mom’s first marriage. Michelle is from my dad’s first marriage, and well, we don’t talk about her.
Jenny and Paula are 6 and 8 years older than me. When I was a kid, they lived with my parents and me at various points. When they weren’t living with us, they lived with their dad in Ohio. Paula lived with us the longest. While they lived with us, they often braided my hair. Paula was great at french braiding and I loved washing my hair at night, having her braid it, then sleeping on it and taking it out of the braid in the morning and seeing it all crimpted and curly. Jenny also braided my hair, though she didn’t live us for very long.
I loved when they braided my hair. It always made me feel cute and special. In the years since childhood, I haven’t had my hair braided very often. I just don’t know how to do it myself. I can do a very simple braid, but not on my own hair. Of course there’s videos online where I could learn, but, I just haven’t.
On Friday when I arrived at Jenny’s hotel room to get ready to go swimming with them, I saw she had her hair in two braids. I asked her if she would braid my hair too. So there I sat. On the floor of her hotel room, leaning against the bed, Jenny braided my hair like she did when I was a kid. I almost teared up from the nostalgia. I may be 44 years old, but I still felt cute and special when she was done. She almost didn’t take a picture like I wanted because she insisted she could have done better. Apparently she’s better at braiding her own hair than someone else’s. But she took one anyway.
Later that day I took the braids out so I could wash my hair before we went out to dinner. Josh never saw the braids, so I showed him the picture. I told him I can’t do it myself but I love my hair like that. He said one of his sister’s knows how to do it so he could get her to show him how so he could braid my hair for me. Or watch the videos that I know are out there. Either way, I know he’d do a great job because his attention to detail is impeccable.
Sometimes feeling like an adult is overrated. Actually, it always is. Which is why it’s important to have moments where you can channel your inner child and participate in activities that remind you of days gone by. It does something to make your heart feel good. And believe me, having my big sister braid my hair again like she did when I was a kid, it definitely made my heart happy.
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