Thursday, May 6, 2010

Feel Good Friday: Muffins and Mullets.

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I am participating in “Feel Good Friday” today with The Girl Next Door. If you don’t know what “Feel Good Friday” is, click here and play along! This week I’m choosing to write about something I did for myself and someone else that really made both of us happy.

On Tuesday morning Alivia and Lainey had an event at their school called “Muffins with Mom.” It’s exactly like it sounds, bring your Mom, and eat a muffin. We got to the school and Alivia’s teacher was greeting everyone at the door. When she saw Alivia she smiled and said “Don’t forget to go to the classroom first and get your special surprise for Mom!”

Alivia quickly hung her coat and bag up, then raced into the classroom to retrieve my surprise. “Here!” she said. “Put it on! You have to wear it!” What was it? It was a visor. A visor! All of the kids (preschool – 8th grade) had decorated a visor for their Mom to wear that morning. For me to tell you that I didn’t want to wear that visor, is an understatement. If I’m being completely honest, every fiber of my being was screaming NO to the visor.

I know that sounds horrible, you don’t have to tell me that. Here’s the thing though, I have had an obsession (technically it’s actually a compulsion) with my hair for as long as I can even remember. There were times in elementary school that I missed the bus because my hair wasn’t right. Elementary school people!

It didn’t help that I had a mullet. It also didn’t help that my Dad was the one who helped us get ready for school. I mean, Dads can maybe help you with a ponytail, but they’re useless when it comes to taming a wavy mullet. And when I say that I had a mullet, I mean I had a mullet from the time I was in kindergarten until the summer before 6th grade.

You don’t even want to know what I did that summer before 6th grade. I got it cut into a bowl cut. A bowl cut. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, please refer to Jim Carrey in “Dumb and Dumber.” The bowl cut looked bad, really bad. To make matters worse, at some point during that summer some douche bag at a campground we were staying at mistook me for a boy, so then I got a perm. The perm looked bad too. Really really bad.

I digress. My point of all this is that from the time I was in kindergarten until basically 8th grade, my whole life was one bad hair day after another. So, when I finally had a good haircut and learned how to do it correctly, I wanted it to be perfect. Sorta like Tami + Good Hair = True Love Always. I should carve that into a tree, or maybe get a tattoo of it.

Back to Tuesday. There I am in the hallway of the school holding the visor while two wide eyed little girls stared up at me. “I have to wear this?” I asked. “Yes! All of the other Moms are wearing them!” they said. As I stood there, I thought about my hair that I had just spent half an hour on. Then I thought about going to the bathroom and trying to carefully place the visor on. I even thought about maybe letting one of the girls wear it.

But, then I thought about something else. I thought about how lucky I am to be a Mom. I thought about the kind of Mom I want to be, and the memories I want my daughters to have of me. I thought about other women I know who have lost a child or who can’t have children, and would love to be in my place right now wearing that visor.

And then without another thought, I slapped that visor on, and we went and ate our muffin. One small step for womankind. One giant leap for crazy OCD Mom.

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30 comments:

Tyly said...

I love this story, and if anyone can rock a visor, it's you! I love the perspective you put things into. Very nice!

Anonymous said...

You look GREAT!! Good for you for slappin' that on. :) I know it meant the world to your daughter.

Amy Lynn said...

Awwww! You go girl! I think it's pretty hot. All mom's should rock a visor at some point in their life. ESPECIALLY if their daughter made it for them! And look on the bright side - you didn't have to rock it WITH a mullet!

Tyly said...

I live in central Texas and would kill for 60* weather!! :-P

I like Amy Lynn's comment - at least you didn't have to rock it WITH a mullet!! :) Or a perm for that matter!

Taylor said...

What a great story! You have to find some of those pics from elementary school though! I know i have one floating around somewhere where I have a perm AND my bangs are cut all the way to my ears!

Christa said...

Good for you! Love the visor!!

Natalie said...

Way to rock that hat.. It made those little girls days.

And I totally think you should dig up some mullet/bowl cut pics. I've got a few of myself with braces & a bad perm I can share.

Jane said...

I have the double-whammy...since the Ex wasn't around during Father's Day, I had to be my daughter's stand-in dad for "Donuts for Dads". And I had to wear a Dad crown.

I totally rocked that crown.

Our "Muffins for Moms" has been pushed off until next month. Something to do with a muffin shortage. California has officially hit rock-bottom, but - silver lining - I have a funny hat reprieve.

Melissa said...

Good for you for wearing the visor! It looks lovely!!!

Ian said...

Great story and even better visor ;)

Unknown said...

Knowing how hard that was for you continues to reaffirm how lucky the girls are to you for a mom.

Meghan said...

Aww! I would have felt the exact same way:) I think it looks super cute!

Amanda M. said...

I love how you put this into perspective.
And I also think you are totally rocking the visor.

Yankee Girl said...

You are amazing!

And if you had to wear a visor, that one was probably the coolest one to have worn.

Anonymous said...

I totally know how you feel with your hair! I hate messing up mine too, but always take one for the team... :-)

Except for swimming. I hate dunking my head. I will not go underwater.

Hillary said...

Despite knowing you very well and having stood at the bus stop alone due to your hair obsession, the whole time I was reading this I was a little pissed and thinking to myself, "put on the damn visor for your girls!"

Then I read the end, got a little teared up and knew who you might have been thinking about.

I think the visor looked perfect!

Karen said...

Great story, and the visor looks awesome. Popping over from FGF and I am also following you now.

Lindsey said...

Love the visor!

Drew's Mom said...

Great story! It's the little things that will stick with those girls forever.. Way to go Mom!!

TILTE said...

omg. i would have been in the same selfish boat as you. but as far as homemade hats go, it could have been much worse.

good job for overcoming your fear of visor-hair. your daughters will love you more for it.

Tracie said...

Awwww. I'm sure she was so proud!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mimi N said...

Well, I wish I KNEW how to do my hair! I can understand your stress and I enjoyed your sidetrack down memory lane. Poor you! Good job for doing what was hard!

~Mimi @ Woven by Words from FGF

purplume said...

Good for you. I hope you didn't get hat head out of it.
Bless you all.

Mindy said...

I was holding my breath for the end of that one - love that you had it on AND took a picture. :0) Your girl will love you for that, especially because you can see all of the care and effort she put into making it for her special mom.

Unknown said...

Good job! Visors skeeve me out. But you did the right thing. I'm not sure I could have. LOL!!!
Happy Mother's Day!

Tyly said...

Yes, the Crystal Light is great! It's in a white box and it's the little powder packets. It's suggested that you use half the packet, but NO. I just pour the entire packet into my water and dilute. I take a large drink off the top, then add a bit more water. The flavor is a bit strong at first, but once you dilute it, it's excellent! :)

Liz Mays said...

You did it. You sucked it up and wore it. You truly are a wonderful mom!

LWLH said...

Not going to lie but your rocking the shiz out of that visor!!

Your an awesome mama!

Kelsey Claire said...

You can rock that visor like no other! No offense, but what was the teacher thinking. I mean would she want to wear one? Why not a necklace or a bracelet. Lets be honest!

Corrie and Phil said...

Did anyone really have great hair at Daisy Brook Elementary of FMS? I'm sure I could look through our old yearbooks and find some impressive styles.

Way to take the giant leap!