My hair etc.

This is Vanessa

This is Vanessa.  She is my hairdresser and has cut my hair for many many years now.  Seeing Vanessa every eight weeks or so is one of the happy indulgences of my life.


It is an interesting relationship that can develop across the mirror, in the hair salon.  Particularly if one always goes to the same place, to the same person, in front of the same mirror.  I have watched my wrinkles grow in Vanessa's mirror.  We now debate whether or not to mask the grey with something.  We watch time pass.
Vanessa is young, and gorgeous, with a young person's growing life in a big city.  It's fun for me to hear about. We talk about all sorts of things in front of her mirror. For me, I always have my glasses off and so I can't see her very well.  I can only listen.  I talk freely to Vanessa, and she to me, because this has become what we do. 


There is nothing to hide here because, after all, the mirror is right there - large as life - and it's a self-contained world in the place where we talk.  The conversation ends, the robe comes off, the hair is tossed, and off I go.

Vanessa was the third person (apart from the 26 taskmasters) who knew about these letters of mine.  I desperately needed a haircut after walking the Camino and I therefore saw Vanessa almost immediately after landing back in Canada.  I was still completely raw and, as one sometimes does, I spilled my guts to my hairdresser about what had just happened to me. 

Over another haircut later on we talked about her grandmother's illness, and my father's death.  Over time I have come to know what an enormous heart Vanessa has.  And she has come to know a bit of me.  

As I rode the train into Toronto this morning, I was so nervous about my interview with the CBC, and so excited about delivering the book to Vanessa.  I'm not sure which emotion was stronger.  It has been a very fun day.

So, on the hair front, here is the scoop:  I have been growing my hair out for a year now,  slowly getting rid of the short, sharp lines.  Today we decided that it was enough for a while - it's long enough, soft enough, and ready for the book launch on Saturday.  

I love my new haircut and Vanessa always makes me feel beautiful -  because just look at her!  Who wouldn't feel beautiful sitting in her chair?