Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
A few days ago, I took my own advice and outed myself to my closest friends and family about our financial situation. I didn’t want to live a lie anymore, pretending that everything was copacetic. Every time a friend or family member invited us anywhere, or wanted to catch up over lunch or pedicures, I would have to lie to them. My only other choice was to go out, spend money I didn’t have, and pay for it later.
So far, everyone has been very nice about it, offering advice and support. Yesterday, my dad did one better and actually offered to pay me for something I would have gladly done for free. I have been cutting my husband’s and children’s hair for years to save money, and my dad mentioned that he needed a haircut.
He told me, “The way I see it, I’m going to have to give someone 10 bucks to cut my hair, so it might as well be my daughter.”
“Really? Thanks, Dad! Are you sure? I’m not trained or anything, I just cut the boys’ hair to save money.”
“Listen, I’m not going anywhere fancy the next few weeks. I’ll be done working around 3. That work for you?”
“Sure! Oh, and I don’t have a barber cape. Sorry. We used to, but….it’s a long story.” Not wanting to throw my husband under the bus, I buttoned my lip about Jeff accidentally throwing away the cape and all my hair-cutting accessories in a moment of haste.
Promptly at 3:15 that afternoon, my dad bravely came over to my ghetto breakfast room salon for a trim. Since it’s over now, I can be honest and say that I was completely intimidated! I had cut my boys’ hair a hundred times, but I was really worried that I would mess up my dad’s haircut. Some people have really difficult hair! What do barbers and beauticians do when they come across a challenging coif? My dad even warned me that he had a difficult head of hair, and that it’s often looked “a little crazy” after haircuts in the past. In the past when that has happened, he said that it was usually better after washing it and applying a bunch of goop to make it lie flat. Now, I was seriously worried.
Thankfully, it turns out, all of that worrying was for naught as things went fairly well. My dad is one of my favorite people to talk to, and he seemed very happy with the haircut. When I was finished, he laid a $20 on the table and thanked me.
“Dad, that’s not a $10 bill.”
“I didn’t have any change,” he lied.
I didn’t argue or look for change in my own purse, but thanked him instead.
“Can you do my eyebrows, too?”
Looked like he was going to make me earn that 20 bucks after all! By this time, my 7 month old had started fussing, so I strapped her into the Bjorn baby carrier before tackling my dad’s salt-and-pepper brows. When finished, I realized where I got my bushy eyebrows and deep-set eyes. I also realized that I just made money for hanging out with my dad. Wow, I wonder if anyone else wants to hang out. I might start calling the neighbors. Hey, I do eyebrows too!
