Every four or five weeks I get my hair done. For over 20 years the same person has not only cut my hair but my husband’s and son’s as well. She has become part of the family and I enjoy the time we spend together chatting as my hair processes as well as when we find time to grab a drink or dinner together in between my hair appointments.
It is always interesting to me how much happens in those few weeks between haircuts. It always seems like there is so much to discuss when I walk into my friend’s shop even though most of us think of 4-5 weeks as a short amount of time.
In the big scheme of things, four or five weeks is a very short amount of time. On the other hand, so much can happen in that amount of time.
I am made extra mindful of that amount of time when I come in to hear how my friend’s mom is doing, or how her vacation went. I think about the times I am part of a theatrical process that fits between haircuts. I realize that my child got married, went on his honeymoon, got home to celebrate Christmas and a new year began in between my trips to the salon. Sometimes it makes a few weeks seem like a lifetime.
I have been exceptionally taken aback by how quickly things have changed since the last time I walked in to my friend’s door for a haircut. How my neighbor has lost her mom, how my new daughter in law has lost her grandfather, how the play I was working on opened, ran for two weekends and then closed, how another production began and had to stop, how the world has shut down and seems quiet yet on edge. All in four and a half weeks!
I am still worried about isolation being traumatic for some and I think about how all of this will affect our society. I hope that people don’t get caught up in fear and lose their humanity. I see people around me trying to help and do the right things and it makes me hopeful.
I look forward to getting to spend some time with my friend at her salon this week. It will be nice to get out and talk to her for awhile. It will be nice to get my hair done even if no one much will see it. It will feel like the world is normal again, if only for a moment. It makes me wonder in another 4-5 weeks what will be going on and what we will be discussing.
Will we still be “distancing”? Will it all be over by then? Will we be worried about something new by then?
Four or five weeks doesn’t seem like very long. When I stop and think about my response to “well, what have you been up to since the last time I saw you?” most times I say, “not much!” When you really stop and think about it though, a lot changes in 4-5 weeks. Sometimes, when you really stop and think about it, it is almost overwhelming how much can change in just a few weeks.
