Looooooooong hair

You know growing up I always wanted to try a hair cut that didn't have bangs. My mom would never let me saying that my face was way too long to go without bangs.

I think she was right.

There's a story many of my friends know, but I'll go ahead and repeat it here.

I had a little friend named Lisa. When we hung out, we usually got into trouble. We were grammar school age. 

My mom took us to the indoor tennis courts with her one afternoon. We sat at the table and ate the free cookies, for a little while.

Soon we ended up in the locker room, then into a bathroom stall. What could be more fun then playing with Barbi in the toilet?? Yes, we were very goofy girls.

As we were playing in the stall I told Lisa "Barbi was made after my birth mom". Maybe I said real mom, I'm not sure. I stopped using "real" mom pretty soon after I saw the look on my mothers face, so I am not sure if this was before that look, or after.

This Barbi was like any other Barbi. Blond and thin, her hair went down past her butt. When I told Lisa this story, I do recall that I believed it to be true. I had imagined, at least when I was a child, that my first mother was as pretty as a Barbi, with long flowing hair that she could do up in so many ways.

As soon as the words came out of my mouth my mother called me out of the stall. We opened the stall door and there she stood, my mom.

She told me that I couldn't tell such stories, that it wasn't true.

I don't recall feeling like the story I had told had been a lie. I really believed it.

What I do recall is wondering, how did she know it wasn't true?

Below is one of my favorite photos of Dottye. We don't have a lot of photos. You know back then was the time of film so I am sure they didn't take as many as we snap today. And she died when she was 24 years old, a short life with far too few photos left behind.

I was sitting at my desk thinking of my upcoming trip to Las Vegas and I wondered what she looked like for the short period that she lived there. Was she happy when she got there? Did she gussy herself up or go casual? I imagine she gussied herself up, she liked to be noticed after all.

This photo is back in Ohio, not long before she died. It shows a side of her that many of the other photos don't show, it's one of the few where I think I can actually see a moment of true happiness, of just being silly.