Meme Monday

I haven’t found a way to weave this meme in with the content below, but it speaks to me.

This weekend was another of easing back into normal. Saturday, I got my hair done. I’ve been pretty comfortable getting my hair done during the pandemic, ever since I heard of a study done on two hairdressers who both tested positive for COVID, and had been seeing a lot of clients (I think maybe they worked at a Supercuts or something like that), and they did not pass it on to a single client. They were able to do really thorough contact tracing and no one got sick. Thanks to masks. So I went the first 6 months without setting foot in a salon, but after that I’ve been back every 10 weeks or so. I color my hair, so it can look really bad if I don’t.

Anyway, I went and got my hair done, which felt great as always. However, my hairdresser recently had a baby and is out on maternity leave, so I went to another hairdresser at the salon. I color my hair blonde, and sometimes the hair comes out a little ‘warmer’ than I would like, which means it can have a kind of orange undertone. I don’t know if I can blame this on my mother, since she was a red head, or whether it is all me. Anyway, after they put in the color to cover the roots, then the highlights to give it dimension, they sometimes tone it to keep the color ‘cool’. This time, without asking me, she put in a darker toner, which has a violet hue. So now, parts of my hair look kind of violet, kind of grey. I was a little freaked out as she dried my hair, though I tried to keep that to myself as best I could. She assured me that it will completely wash out in a couple of days, and I will be left with just beautiful blonde, not violet or grey. She offered to take a clarifying shampoo and wash it out right then if it would make me feel better. I decided to leave it as is, it is barely noticeable, and I’d like to see what she’s working toward. But we are going to Portland next weekend for a couple of days, and I hope it is normal by then. She said she would check on me on Wednesday and if it is not, I can come in and she will fix it before we leave, which is less than ideal and I hope it all works out.

While I was there, there was one other client having her hair done, and she had the kind of hair I covet. Course and curly and dark. Of course, I could color my hair dark instead of light, but I’ve tried it and it doesn’t suit my skin tone, I look really tired and washed out. And there’s not really anything to be done about the texture of my hair. So I try to embrace what I have and make the best of it. But I mentioned to my hairdresser that I covet that kind of hair, so when she finished blow drying my hair and giving it the finishing touches of trim, she curled it for me. Oh happy day! Curls! I loved it!

Back in the before times, often when I would get my hair done, we would go out to dinner. Something about not wanting to waste a good hair day on just sitting home and watching TV. So when I came home and Ted said, ‘what shall we have for dinner?’ I said, ‘Well, my hair is curly, so perhaps we should go out.’ He was thrilled with the idea. So we called a couple of places, and found an opening early at a place we haven’t been for YEARS but is delicious Italian food. The only trouble is, they didn’t have any outdoor seating available, only indoor. Gulp. I’ve been nervous about the idea of that, of being inside around other people who are not wearing masks, and who we don’t know whether they are vaccinated or not. Ted and Maya went to a couple of indoor restaurants when they were in Utah, and they felt fine about it. I have friends who have done the same. I decided that I wanted to challenge my anxiety, so we went for it. Date night! In a real restaurant! Not take out! We’ve been getting take out at least once a week for the past 14 or 15 months, and I am so tired of it. It was SO GREAT to just sit in a restaurant and have that interaction, have someone bring me delicious food and wine, and talk to my husband. It was great to be a little dressed up. I loved it. The tables were still pretty spaced out, and ventilation was pretty good, which did help. I had a really good eggplant parmigiana, and Ted had a wonderful duck breast. We were both very happy.

So, what is different? Why am I now more comfortable going out into the world than I was even just a month ago? Vaccinations. I’ve been fully vaccinated since late February. I was eligible early because of my volunteering with the elderly. It took a little longer for Ted and Maya to get their vaccines, and we all had a two dose vaccine, which means that Maya was finally considered ‘ fully vaccinated’ just a few weeks ago. So now that the science is showing how effective the vaccines are, and now that we have all had them, I am finally starting to relax a little bit. It feels really good. I hope that the vaccines are more available soon throughout the world, so everyone can get this freedom.