Afternoon at the hair salon

Every once in awhile, a women arrives in the village with a big bin of hair care products tied to the back of her motorcycle and all of the old ladies on my street get their hair done. It's quite possibly one of my favorite days in the village because these ladies are my ladies, my friends. It's so cute to see them all lined up getting their hair cut and permed. The hairdresser speaks random words in English to me like "beautiful" and "happy" and I speak equally random words in Laos back and the old ladies hoot and holler and love it. Just another afternoon at the hair salon.

I think I love this day so much because I have fond memories of hanging around as my mom cut and permed Grandma Adeline's hair in our house in Fargo and I know that Grandma Jane goes to the hair salon in her town every Saturday morning. I guess it's a universal Grandma thing - Grandma's around the world love getting their hair cut and permed. The "hair salons" might look different, some more upscale and some completely non-existent, but all Grandma's love the socializing and the little beauty pick-me-up that makes them feel a little bit better.

Grandma Next Door is always out there getting her hair down and I always compliment her saying she is beautiful and she always rolls her eyes in a sarcastic way and says "Eh, I'm too old to be pretty!" I think she's wrong though. Her skin is extremely weathered and wrinkled, her hands and feet are dirty and slightly deformed from years of planting rice in the fields, she still takes the cows out to the fields every morning at 5:30am, and she's only ever showered with a bucket bath outside. And yet, I honestly think she's beautiful. There's something so simply beautiful about her face and her smile and the way her eyes glimmer. She has a funny, spunky personality to match. Sometimes I watch her do crazy old Thai lady things like haul sheets of metal around the yard (still can't figure that one out), feed the chickens, and chat with her gang of old ladies and I realize how truly strong and radiant she is. I guess I could be a little biased because she's my best friend in the village, but I think Grandma Next Door is beautiful and lovely. She makes me so happy and I will never truly be able to describe in words how much our friendship means to me.

Regardless I love hair salon days in the village.