Living on the Fringe

It's official over. My pandemic hair performance piece is now over. I guess I'm moving on - from the pandemic and other things as well. I got a professional haircut for the first time since February 2020! I went fringe bangs and long layers. I'm digging it so far, although I never quite feel at home in a haircut right away and especially with the styling leaving the salon. Usually I just tell the stylist not to worry about blow drying it because I want to wash all the loose hairs off me and may be heading to workout. I usually feel that portion of the appointment is more about them anyway, putting the cherry on top of their creative masterpiece. But I've never liked marashino cherries either. Today, however, I thought I'd let her go ahead and give me a blowout. I thought I might enjoy the attention and stimulus. Plus, I was kind of worried this cut would be too high maintenance for me and require the use of a blow dryer to look decent. Well, I took my obligatory post-haircut shower (after receiving the best massage of my life later this afternoon - different person, different establishment), and I'm so pleased that I'm smiling more. 

I feel the fringe caressing the skin of my forehead. I look in the mirror. I take the selfie (still traveling alone). And it feels good! I like what I see.

While I'm eternally grateful for the gifts of the pandemic and, as of 2 weeks ago, now can claim the double-vaxxed and boosted COVID internal COVID experience (a.k.a. mild head cold flu symptoms), I am ready to move on! I'm traveling internationally, with a friend to soon join my last two cities' adventures, and all the while I'll be closing out this sabbatical with my cute fringe bangs and layers. (Yep, still grinning. That's partly due to the satiation from the third dinner I've taken myself out to this week. Same rooftop terrace - sometimes just eating and taking in the view, sometimes writing, and tonight finishing up a watercolor of the local central square. And I have some house-made flan that I carried home. A Portland friend who lived in Mexico told me the flan and tres leech are "off the chain" here in SMA. I've done tres leches, but it took me a while to find flan).

I'm smiling that wry steady smile, even though I shed some good tears today and had some good feels - some sparked by thoughts and memories and others by the healing hands of my massage therapist releasing energy from my body. Yes, I booked another appointment before I leave and yes, I'll be taking my cute new do out to dinner again tomorrow, although I think it will be a lupper because I'm hoping to make it to a Bohemian tango concert of some Argentinians musicians I met in the park this weekend.

Here's to letting go of what was to make room for what is and what's becoming…all fringed and layered.

-esb

PS - I’ve included some visual story telling too!