So it has been quite a while since the last time I wrote on
this here blog. But I did want to tell you all about August 6, 2013: One of the
craziest, longest, most beautiful, and yet a little devastating day of my life.
A day to be remembered, that is definitely for sure.
To get the full story I will of course have to tell you
quick back story, stay with me here… So I work/ live about 45 minutes away from
my home during the summer in a small lake town, at a resort on the beach
cleaning hotel rooms and working the front office. Anyways I got work off for
the 5th and 6th so that I could get all my temple clothes
and things the day before actually going to the temple and be with my mom and
such. We went to a few stores and out to lunch. It was a great day and I was
excited for the next day to come. The next morning I had a hair appointment
scheduled. I woke up that morning and started preparing my things for my temple
session so I could relax after my hair appointment and prepare before entering
the house of the Lord. My mom had a headache and asked if she could borrow some
of my essential oils I have. I began to walk out to the car, where I thought my
purse was, to get her the oils. I searched the car three times, my room four
times and I was beginning to get very worried about my purse. The last I had
remembered seeing it was when I put it on my chair at lunch the day before.
With it being 8 am I was sure the restaurant wouldn't be open yet. I called all
the other places we went the day before to see if anyone had turned it in. I
was of course crying, not only because my personal information and essential
oils were in there, but my brand new temple recommend I needed to go to the
temple later was in it. We were stuck, and finally my mom decided to just call
the restaurant to see if anyone was there. Turned out there was, and they did
have my purse. I learned to never assume in that instant, my mother also
lectured me about it for a minute, then I finished getting ready for the day.
We would pick up my purse on our way to the hair appointment.
It was just for a trim (I am half white half black and have
very curly hair that was still recovering from a mess up that happened last
thanksgiving), you know cut off some of the straight ends and make it look nice
for my later temple appointment that day. I was so excited because my hair had
grown so much since my last trim! My dream of long hair was coming. When
arriving at my appointment we got started. It was the same place I went last
time and my hair turned out great. But it was a different woman this time. I
was nervous as usual for hair appointments, but we chatted and I thought we
agreed on what we were going to do. Apparently we didn't. She started cutting a
lot more hair off the back than I was wanting, but I was still okay. She then
moved to the sides and started trimming. As I watched the new hair shape coming
to view, my back and hands started to tighten, my face started turning very sad
and I couldn't hold it in any longer. My mom was with me and when our eyes met
in the mirror she knew I was on the verge of tears, she came over and hugged me
and out came the waterworks. It was so short and I was trying my best not to
make the woman cutting my hair feel bad. It wasn't that she was doing a bad job;
it just wasn't what I wanted at all. The tears kept coming, but I calmed down enough
to let her finish. When she got done with what she thought was what I wanted, I
legitly looked like a scarecrow. And the crying began again. We agreed to just
cut it all off (all the strait pieces) so I could just start anew and grow it
out beautifully on my mission. I pulled myself together, finished the
appointment and paid. As soon as we got to the car more tears began to flow.
All because of hair. The reason this was so hard for me is because my hair is
so hard to grow, and all I’ve ever wanted was long hair! I was planning on
doing something of the sort to my hair the day before I left for my mission. That
way no one would even know if I got a haircut at the MTC and I could grow it
out on my mission! Which is yet another reason why it was so hard for me. I was
definitely not prepared for this haircut. This story may sound so silly to
some, but my hair is a very big part of my life. It takes a lot of time and work
to keep it well and looking okay. And in twenty short minutes it was shorter than
I ever remember it being.
This is the picture of total hair cut off that day
We got home and I took a nap. I didn't look in the mirror
until I absolutely had to get ready to go to the temple. I was trying to cheer
up so I could have an amazing time in the temple. I prayed. Finally I was
ready. It was time to go and I felt peaceful. Even though I had been very
nervous about going to the temple for the first time and my eyes had been
ambushed by tears the whole day, I felt good. My mom and I got out of the car
and walked towards the temple. My heart raced as I realized my dream of going
inside the temple was actually coming true. We walked in the doors and
nervousness flushed over me again, almost to tears. But as soon as I talked to
my temple helper and started to get to know her I was fine. There was no fear
at all anymore.
The session was beautiful, seeing all my family (and friend)
together in the temple was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
And yes I do have questions and I can’t wait to go back to learn more. It is a
beautiful place and I am so so grateful I was able to enter in. There was not
one thing to be nervous about. Not one. The temple is a place of peace. I
realized while in the temple I had pretty much completely forgotten about my
hair cut, and I was able to focus on the spirit and the blessings. Something that I hope will carry into my mission! (Which is so close and I am so excited by the way!)
This is a picture of my and my friend Alexis who was just married and was able to come to the temple with me (I have pictures of my own I just haven't uploaded them yet! ) You can kind of see how short my hair is :)
My family gathered at my house for dinner afterwards and it
all turned into a perfect evening. Family, good food, and the spirit. It just
doesn't get much better. So as you can tell it was a crazy day, like the title
says, my dream of having long hair was postponed, but my dream to enter the
temple was luckily not. I’m so grateful for that day, and what I learned (which
was quite large bit),and for the Lord
always watching out for me. And I won’t say I wouldn't go back and change any
of it, because I probably would if I could. But you can bet your bottom dollar
that if I did get the chance to change anything, it wouldn't be anything after
5 pm.
Although I am still trying to adjust to the new short hair
look, hair grows. Also we can’t always just assume things, communication is
key, and the temple is truly the house of the Lord, where families can be
sealed together forever and where we can learn truly beautiful things. These
are the things I learned August 6, 2013.
