Narcissism

I'm in Baton Rouge to take my 95-year-old mother's car away from her. I feel like the meanest daughter on the planet. She's been crying since I got here, intermixed with fits of anger.She has a benign brain tumor, an aneurysm and she's banged up her 5-year-old ride at least 10 times. It's full of dents.  She says she's just going to go buy another car. Add in that she let her insurance lapse 3 years ago for about 6 months and now owes a $300 fine to the LA DMV and therefore, has no driver's license and you'll understand my concerns over my graying hair.

CH (looking in the mirror at my vast amounts of gray: Look at all my gray hair! YOU caused that! (I say to her, laughing.

Mom: Look at mine! It's solid white!

CH: Mine is from staying up all night worrying about YOU!

Mom: Mine too!

CH: Worrying about yourself?

Mom: Yep.

Why Me?

I don't know if this is another "gift" of middle age but the right front of my hair seems to be growing straight UP these days! Thank goodness for barrettes!

Hairy Issues - Really?

Sigh....

Mom Got Her Hair Did!

After MONTHS of begging, I FINALLY got Mom to color her hair back dark! I LOVE it!! I feel like I have my mommy back!

She had let her hair go gray because my sister asked her to. Patsy was so sick and her vanities made her deplore that strangers thought she and Mom were sisters and often, they thought Patsy was older! I think this the only awful thing my sister has ever done to my mother. But Mom did it willingly and lovingly.

And for some reason she feared coloring it. She kept having nightmares that it came our red...something this red-head didn't understand. What's wrong with red? Red is HOT! But for me it was a safety issue. Mom leads a higher risk lifestyle than I do. From her choice of neighborhood - the neighbor kid's bike was stolen while we were sitting on the front porch this week, calling the cops and yelling at the perp as it went down - to late nights in the casino. And I felt her hair made her a target. When her hair is dark, it's not so obvious just how old she is.

This is a shade or so lighter than she used to wear it and she's already wishing she had taken the plunge back to her old color. I'm just so happy to have her looking like her healthy self.

Speaking of which, I keep catching her with no walker! She swept the kitchen yesterday and hoed the garden and picked a dozen cucumbers today!

Really Hairy Issue

Some days, I really HATE my hair... sigh. Like today, when I just wanted it all to stay flat. As always, my hair has a mind of it's own:

If I had known how often I would mention my hair when I started this blog...nearly 1000 posts ago, I would have given it its very own tag...