A New Life Begins with a Haircut

Life after gymnastics is just plain WEIRD.

If you ask Megan about it, she claims not to miss it AT ALL, which I find kind of strange after devoting so much of herself to it these last six years.

But one huge benefit of this change in our lives is that I now get to spend a lot more quality time with my daughter. I've always known she's a cool kid with a big heart -- but she continually surprises me with her intelligence, insight and sense of humor.

She started tennis camp on Monday and seems to be enjoying it, although her dad and I don't think she's getting as much physical activity as she might need. By evening, she's climbing the walls. It doesn't help that she and my husband think it's a good idea to hit the ball across our crippled living room every night, ignoring my cries of 'NOT IN THE HOUSE.' Yes, I know that our home isn't exactly a home at the moment, but this is a bad habit I'm afraid will continue after we've put everything back in place.

Of course, I blame him more than our kid - he's the adult in that relationship and should be setting the example. In the meantime, I just try to shield my laptop from their game and pray that we get our show back on the road soon.

One of the problems with tennis camp is that it's only three hours a day (instead of five for gymnastics training), so my constructive time is even more limited than usual. I spent Monday working for my VA client, had a Tuesday meeting with our insurance agent (I wanted to review our policy now that we no longer have a wood floor to replace) and a doctor's appointment yesterday... which explains why it's taken me until Thursday to write this post. Obviously, I need to up my time management skills, especially since I'm backlogged on other posts I've started on my other blogs. I'm hopeful that my husband and daughter will be so busy with my sister's family in Sacramento this weekend that I can have a little writing time for myself -- but that's rarely happened in the past. So there's always next week.

After camp yesterday, I took Megan shopping (something we rarely had time for when her gym commitment was 20 hours a week). The original reason was to get a birthday present for her cousin (one of the kids we'll see in Sacto this weekend), but we ended up doing more: we had lunch, we bought her some clothes, and we went in for mother-daughter haircuts!

"Can I dye my hair pink?" she asked.

I think I surprised her by saying she could. After all, you have to pick your fights with your family, and the nice thing about hair is that it grows back. How she chooses to wear it is her business and a form of self-expression. I'd rather she wait until high school to mess with her hair color, but if she really wants to do it now, I have no objections.

I did used to intervene when she went in for a haircut, but only because gymnastics was a hair-intensive sport and if too many layers were put in, it was hard to pull her hair back into the smooth ponytail she needed for competition. Now, she's free to choose any hairstyle she wants.

"I don't want to dye my hair pink - I just wanted to know if I could," she said. "How about a Mohawk?"

Yes. She can get a Mohawk too, if she likes.

I have to admit that I was relieved when she walked out of the salon with a cute shoulder-length bob, which looks really good on her.

Comments

[Julie Pippert]

ITA with you about the picking your battles!

It sounds like a transition period to be sure, but one you guys are doing okay with. I'm glad.

But I want a photo of the new cut. :)

[Lawyer Mama]

Wow! No more gymnastics? Sounds like you handled the hair perfectly. (-;

[Lorna]

I echo the need for a photo. On the other hand, I can understand if you don't have time or inclination. So much is going on in your life.

[Cynematic]

As mom to a kid who just recently won Second Prize, Boys' Division, Crazy Hair Day with a fauxhawk, I heartily approve of the hair experimentation!

More permanent body decoration...hmmm, with you there, no piercings or tats, please! :)