update: mother love

my mother is coming home friday. home from the hospital, home to my home to fully recoup.

we are thrilled to have her. i will never take a grilled cheese and milkshake for granted again. especially if she is the one making it for me.

it was a harrowing two weeks. but i'll tell you when a turning point came. and i may or may not be half joking.....

it was when she was fully upright and caught sight of her hair in the bathroom mirror.

gad, she said. this -- is a mess.

and i swear, from that point on her recovery came rapidly. my mother is the old-fashioned type who has had a standing appointment at a beauty shop for every saturday of her life. it was one of the conditions of her marrying my father, and quitting her job: her weekly hair appointment must stand.

she takes hair very seriously. several years ago, while driving through niagara falls, i parked and got out to take in the view.

come on, mom, i yelled. LOOK at it!

she may or may not have cracked the window. because it is very misty you know, and women -- we know what mist does to our hair. nothing good.

i can see it fine from here, she called. i remember thinking, you have got to be kidding me. isn't this one of the natural wonders of the world? how often are we going to be driving from boston to toronto? when will we ever be here again?

i am the complete opposite about my hair. people probably wish i would do something with it. oh sure, i can clean up well when i have to. but for the most part, i look like a heavy wind hit me on the way to wherever i'm going. i never say no to swimming with my kids. or driving in a convertible or jeep. or doing things that will destroy a good hair day. i'm very carpe diem about it. seize the day, gather ye rosebuds while ye may. and if the hair gets destroyed, so be it.

but back to my mom. her hair does not move. it does not swing. it does not blow in the breeze. and when she was first in the hospital, and i tried to run a comb through it, it was painful. for her. for me. days of hairspray residue does something to hair. something....not good.

but for that moment, when she caught sight of her hair in the hospital bathroom, i saw a shift in her. a determination. she was going to get better. going to make her next hair appointment, so help her god.

do not ever underestimate the power of hair. my mom is getting released on friday, and has a hair appointment immediately following.