In all the shop windows were evidences of the
date, which I pointed out to Chloe - hearts, and red, pink and white, AND
kisses, ‘x’s and ‘o’s. The interesting thing I discovered in looking at cards
was that this holiday in England appears to be mainly aimed at romantic love.
We often could not even find cards directed to mom or dad or grandma or grandpa
at all, as we searched out just the right thing – and price! (Made me feel a
little absolved for not having gotten love greetings out to my family back home;
they may not have been available no matter HOW early I had gotten started
looking.) A related thing is that there is no such thing as giving valentines
to your mates in grammar school, so no little cheap boxes of cards available
either.
Finally after all our searching, together in one shop (amazing, believe me!) we found what we were looking for – cards for all our ‘mom, dad, grandpa and grandma’ requirements. Also, wouldn’t you know, ‘amazingly’ each of them was 2 pound 29. (That’s a lot, trust me! In Card Factory they could have been as cheap as 59p – IF we could have found the ones we wanted there. Anyway, do the math – pounds to dollars! but that’s beside the point. Anyway, what the heck, Chloe AND love were worth it for my money!) When we got up to the counter to make our purchase, I saw that they had chocolate bars with a cute teddy holding a big heart on the wrapper, including the inscription, ‘to so and so’ – one each for all the persons on our list. Even more ‘what the heck!’ For 20p more, we could have these – which we did, even better, exchanging candy for cards! (I helped Chloe put her name to her special persons. Cute that she wanted to put different little lines and dashes to distinguish, to her, which was to whom – indistinct to me!)
Finally after all our searching, together in one shop (amazing, believe me!) we found what we were looking for – cards for all our ‘mom, dad, grandpa and grandma’ requirements. Also, wouldn’t you know, ‘amazingly’ each of them was 2 pound 29. (That’s a lot, trust me! In Card Factory they could have been as cheap as 59p – IF we could have found the ones we wanted there. Anyway, do the math – pounds to dollars! but that’s beside the point. Anyway, what the heck, Chloe AND love were worth it for my money!) When we got up to the counter to make our purchase, I saw that they had chocolate bars with a cute teddy holding a big heart on the wrapper, including the inscription, ‘to so and so’ – one each for all the persons on our list. Even more ‘what the heck!’ For 20p more, we could have these – which we did, even better, exchanging candy for cards! (I helped Chloe put her name to her special persons. Cute that she wanted to put different little lines and dashes to distinguish, to her, which was to whom – indistinct to me!)
That was my first sacrifice (of time) for love.
Later, when I was going up and down the stairs in the house a couple of times,
for a variety of reasons, Jack called out to me from his bedroom – ‘hey,
Debbie, will you cut my hair?’ He was sitting there, readying his hair clippers
to do a number on his head. He began explaining to me how this bit is broken,
so you have to hold it just so to get it right, etc. And of course, I’m
hesitating – thinking of every way how I could dissuade him, like why don’t you
go get it done right’ you know, professionally. (‘Don’t have the money.’) But
it can’t be THAT expensive! Anyway, he said that, one way or another, he was
determined to do it himself whether I helped or not. So I said, okay, but you
take the first swipe and then we’ll see.
Which he did – one fail swoop, right from the
front, towards back! I assumed by the length of the attachment that his hair
would still be there by a couple inches, at least. When I looked at his result,
I lamented, ‘oh, Jack! you’ve taken it, (that one swipe), all the way down to a
short crew cut!!) There was no reason for me to hold back after that. What was
there to lose after all – couldn’t get any worse from this point? And as I
began from the nape up, there was no turning back. (Can I express the poignancy
I felt, how in explaining the reason he didn’t want to spend money (besides the
fact that he didn’t have any to spend in the first place) on a good haircut,
Jack was intimately expressing the disdain he felt for the shape of his head –
how it was no good, ‘has bumps all over it.’ In so many words he was
articulating the lack of respect he has for himself. Made me really sad,
because from my perspective I see him for all the good he is inside, for all his
God-given potential.)
(Jack told me later that in Skypeing with his
girlfriend, she had given him an naught out of ten in evaluation of his haircut.
Hey!) His mom wasn’t too happy with me the next day
either, when she saw it. ‘The next time one of my son’s asks you to cut their
hair, don’t do it! Do you think anybody would hire a waiter looking like a
skinhead?!’ (She’s been really serious about him getting work recently.) I
replied that actually I thought they would – that to me it looked clean and
tidy (not that that I was making any excuse or anything), and, lastly, that in
America this style has come to be seen as quite fashionable. (Besides, it
wasn’t my idea – HE took the first snip and was bound and determined to do it,
regardless if I’d agreed to help or not.)
Anyways, so much for spending the day in hot
pursuit of writing_
Photos_
1- Happy V-day!
2- 1971 - milt and debbie - true love (as suggested by their
youngest offspring)
3- my valentine buddy
4- Jack’s new do - clean and tidy
