With my blue, paisley Vera Bradley umbrella up to shield me from the wind and rain, I nervously walked down to Summertown where the fate of my hair color rest with a young hairdresser named Becky. The salon was very upscale and I was greeted by a receptionist who took my coat and replaced it with a black cape. My nerves were calming as she seated me in a futuristic beauty chair complete with the dryer that drops down from the ceiling. She politely told me that Becky would be there soon. Becky turned out to be the most precious young lady. She listened as I explained my gold, not ash, blond hair coloring and then called over the big dog, the manager. Mark listened as I again explained my hair color and I watched him mentally take notes. He excused himself to discuss as he said “rather technical hair coloring terms” with Becky and together they formulated a plan of action. Becky was so incredibly sweet the entire time that I think I would have tipped her if my hair had turned out blue. Use your best sweet, English accent (think Mary Poppins) and say these sentences: “Would you like something to eat?” “Do you mind if I lift your chair up?” “Is the water warm enough?” You get the picture. As if that wasn’t enough, after she washed my hair, while the conditioner was still on, she gave me an incredible head massage. She was definitely getting a tip! As you can see from the picture, Becky did a fabulous job and got Mark’s approval. It’s a little blonder than I usually wear it, but it’s not blue, so all is good. However, it’s 10:30 at night and 2 Papa has yet to say a word about it (as if he didn’t know I walked to the beauty shop—for goodness sake, we live in each other’s pocket—but, I'm fine with that) so maybe I should have gone with blue. A lady at formal dinner did tell me it looked great, without prompting, thank you very much. (As 2 Papa read this, he guiltily looked up and said, “You look gorgeous!” Note to young married’s: Not the way to do it.)
I got in a little souvenir buying after I left the beauty shop. It’s hard to shop or rather, to buy, with such limited packing space and the exchange rate being so poor, but somehow I’m managing. I found some really cute “little” things for all the kids today. We have twenty-five more days here, which seems like an eternity to me right now, but our calendar is booked almost every day from now until we leave. Besides the activities we have scheduled for the next three weeks, 2 Papa finished a rough draft of his book which I have to edit before he meets with his tutor next Friday. Wow, the pressure is on now! When I look at the calendar, I get a little panicky that I won’t have time to buy souvenirs for all.
It rained all day again with more forecasted for tomorrow. We had to take the bus to chapel and formal dinner tonight which means no exercise today. I guess we’ll survive. 2 Papa was asked to read the Bible passage for chapel service. He prefaced his reading by saying he would not use the Queen’s English, but a southern American derivative thereof. A slight chuckle could be heard round the room. Of course, I warned him before we walked in to speak slowly and enunciate carefully, which was received like a teenager being told to not chew with their mouth open. I think I even saw him roll his eyes. But, he obviously listened (yeah, right) as he did an excellent job! It was a long passage and he didn’t stumble one time. I was very proud of him. It was a contemporary service tonight, so I loved the “recognizable” music. Formal dinner was “kid” night where students and faculty could bring their younger siblings or children. We got to meet Justin and Sherry’s kids. Remember, Sherry entertained John Luke last week so meeting her kids was great.
Our flat is a total disaster. We have gone downhill since mom left. Back to looking like a college dorm room. 2 Papa’s makeshift ironing board closet is now piled high with everything he brought over here, with the exception of underwear, which he does put in the drawer I alloted him. We leave early in the morning for Wales, so I’m not seeing cleaning in the future, the future being later tonight. It’s already 11:00 now and we still have to pack and talk to family. No…not happening tonight.
Today’s lesson in chapel was appropriate in that the speaker talked about traveling light, which is how we are all forced to do when taking an airplane these days. But what we soon learn it that all of us can get along on much less than we do. In our walk with God, our bags need only be packed with three things. Like in life, we tend to pile so many things in our “Christian” bag that the important things get stuffed in the very bottom of the pile. “But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.” I Corinthians 1:13 The Message
Praying for a blessed day for each of you.
Love and Hugs,
2 Mama
No comments:
Post a Comment