I have always been insanely jealous of my sisters hair. Well maybe not insanely because I can go for several days at a time without even thinking about it. Okay, insanely is probably pretty accurate.
Today is her birthday. She was born on Thursday the 12th. When I was old enough to realize the significance of my own Friday the 13th birthday I decided to never forgive her for arriving a day early. Although it may have been a relief for our mother. I don’t know, I never asked her.
Anyway, back to the hair. Hers was blonde. It was curly. It framed her cherubic little face in perfectly natural ringlets and waves. My own poker straight dark hair showed every chop of the scissors, flat and boyish and boring in comparison.
Not much has changed in sixty years. Except that I inherited our dads family trait of going grey early. I like to think it’s silvery and I wish for it to some day be as white as my aunts and uncles. Whatever, grey is grey. With no hair coloring help whatsoever, Mom kept the color in her hair for a lot longer. And my sister (with a little help) is doing that too. Now she has lots of blonde streaks and highlights in her waves and curls.
W asked me one time why I didn’t let my hair grow longer like my sisters. I fought off the urge to grab him by the neck and choke him while yelling that he should grow back his bald spot and then we’d talk. Because, you know, that would have been childish. Instead I patiently explained that our hair is completely different and that mine would not look the same. At all. So shut up about the hair.
Yes, insanely is looking more accurate by the minute.
On our holiday my sister let her hair dry naturally and then gave it a quick brush and it looked perfect. For the rest of the day. I blew mine dry because if I don’t all the cowlicks show. I put gel in it because if I don’t it’s about as thick as the wispy hair on a two-year old. Normally I would use my brush curling iron to add some body but I was afraid I’d blow up or burn out our adapter and not be able to charge our more important things like camera batteries and I-Pads. So I spritzed it all over with hair spray and called it done. It looked good for approximately ten minutes every day, and then reverted back to exactly how it looked upon emerging from the shower.
I love my sister to death. I want her hair. I will die with this one fervent wish never granted. I hope she has a happy birthday. I hope she appreciates her beautiful hair. It’s way past time for me to get over this and let it go. I don’t think I ever will.
How insane is that.
Breathing Space 
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