Why Was I So Inconsiderate?

Last Friday, we had a half day of school.

While this isn't really anything Earth-shattering in terms of news, it is pretty impressive in that we teachers actually got to leave at noon.  We never get to leave at noon.  I mean, we do.  We get to go out to lunch ... sometimes ... but we usually have to be back to do something like work or grade or meet with people or something.

However, last Friday, we didn't have to go back after lunch.  It was a free afternoon of loveliness.

Naturally, Erin and I decided to go out for a super girly lunch at Sage Garden Cafe! And of course, we converged upon the eatery at the same time that everyone else that works for the state government did, and so we had a wait and wait and wait.  While sitting there, at which time we attempted solutions to world peace and world hunger, I spotted an adorable and statuesque woman with the most amazing hair!

"Erin, look!  I LOVE her hair!"  It just so happened that I had an appointment with Susan Hart that afternoon.   "I am sooooo going to ask Susan to do that to my hair!  Do you see how cute that hair cut is!?"

"Uh-huh," Erin nodded.

"I mean, it's super adorable!"

Erin looked up from the garden book she was perusing.  "Well, it's pretty much what you've got already."

"Yeah, but it's shorter."

Erin just shook her head.

So, I relayed this story to Susan, who laughed, but whom I am sure was all, "This girl is a nut!"

Still, I got a super-duper short cut that I just LOVE!  And yes, it's pretty much what I have already, but it's just enough of a difference to make me smile.  And smile I did, yesterday, when I rolled into my classroom, two pounds lighter than I have been in a very, very long time, and sporting this cute, short cut.  Smiling all the way to Reading, where it all came to a screeching halt with the raising of a small, little ten year old hand.

"Yes, Karen*.  Do you have an answer to my question?"  Karen is one of my quiet, sweet little girls.

"Ummm, no," she said quietly.  "I was just wondering -- did you get your hair cut?"

"Yes!"  I said, a bit too enthusiastically for the rest of the group.

"Ooooh," she barely whispered.  "It, uh, it looks, ummm, nice?"

See, I never sent out a permission slip ... I never created a poll ... I never bothered to consider the effects of my hair length on my students' well-being when I so carelessly gave Susan permission to snip away.

When will I understand that it isn't Clinton and Stacy I need to fear, but my fourth graders.  They are, most certainly, my toughest critics.

Now, please excuse me while I go and draft a permission slip for the brand new floral-print, cropped hot pants I'm thinking about donning soon.


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