Screen-Shot

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The high schooler in my salon chair has the freedom of the wings of an eagle. And she doesn’t even realize it.

I plug in the straightener, and begin to blow dry her hair. She’s typing away on her phone, and I hear the clicks of the onscreen keyboard. “You’re a senior, right?” I asked to keep the conversation going until I’m done drying. “Yes, it’s my last year.” “Are you going to prom?” I asked. “I guess so.” She replied. “I need to book that only because my Mom wants me to.”

I finished drying, and began to curl her hair with a straightener. “How do you do that, curl but with a straightener?” I showed her and instructed her, “take small steps to let the heat hit every turn of the wrist and let it have time to curve the hair so it takes it’s shape.” “Thanks, I’m glad I noticed that and asked you, I’ve always wondered. You make it look so easy!” She said.

I hairspray the final look and pull down the bounce of the curls with my fingers.

“Well, we’re all done! What do you think?” I asked as I spun the chair facing the mirror. “I love that! I’m so thankful for you, I don’t know what I would do without you dealing with me and my hair.” The 18 year old, high schooler absolutely loves her hair, and follows me over to my check-out desk.

I sit at the desk and noticed she was getting her wallet out. I let her take her time, to maybe get a minute to rest before my next client.. And I ask “so have you been looking for prom dresses? Like what style is the high school going for this year?”

She took her eyes from mine , and offset them to the wall behind me. “Well, it will be a little difficult for me, so I’ll probably go for something that just fits. It may not be in style.”

“Well, you won’t have trouble, you’re so petite, they make them mostly in that range.” I replied.

“I’m actually 7 month’s pregnant, so by then it will be close to my due date.” She explains. “I know, I’m so young.. “.

“Oh! I swear I didn’t even realize or notice that.” I told her. I finished, “The reason I went to beauty school 11 years ago, was because I had my son when I was 18, also.”

“Are you serious? Wow, that makes me feel better, because you’re so successful. You have your own salon business! So maybe this isn’t the end of my freedom.”

“Definitely not the end but definitely not the same. I thought the same thing at your age when I was in high school. I even found out, when my son was one year old, that he had a genetic deletion on his 15th chromosome.” I stated.

“What does that mean?” She asked reluctantly. “He does not speak, but can walk, and is very active. It’s not autism, it’s called Angelman Syndrome, but without a blood test they can misdiagnose it as autism.” I replied.

“Well, they said my baby was healthy.” She immediately responded. “I’m so glad! That makes me happy!” I told her. I can tell that it worried her so, I followed up, “It definitely changed my entire life. When you have something to live for, you do what it takes to stay happy and civilized. Almost like, instead of an eagle who has the freedom to see the beauty of the mountain tops, we are barn owls that do things our own way, while the rest of the world sleeps, we do the opposite. We do it all in our own order. Just like we had babies at 18, not married, and no job. My son just so happened to start being different in the womb. So he’s doing life his own way too!” We both smiled warm heartedly. “Well he is blessed to have you as his mom!” She stated. “I’m blessed to have a unique story to tell.” I said.

My son is just nocturnal to the rest of the world. So I embrace the different life I have with my son.

By this point, she hadn’t got her money out of her wallet. She just laid it on the desk in front of her. She must have been so excited about her hair, she held her phone up and I heard the camera noise capture a selfie. I just smiled.

“You just never realize what someone else’s life is like” she noted. “What consumes your mind, controls your life!” I told her.

After we booked her prom appointment, I told her one more thing before she left, “I didn’t go to prom.” “Oh? because you were pregnant?” She asked quickly. “Yes.” I said. “I was very consumed of what others thought at that time. And little did I know, my whole life would be different than literally everyone around me, my town, my school, my church, my friends, everyone; after his diagnosis. So l look back and regret not going, now, 12 years later.”

“Well, at the time you didn’t realize, so you can’t really regret what you don’t even know.” She said, trying to comfort me.

“Very true,” I replied. “just like me curling with a straightener, you told me that I make it look so easy.. your freedom to still choose things for yourself, right now, looks so easy,” I said. She laughed and responded “maybe it’s similar to what you told me.. small steps, let the heat hit, so we take our shape.”

“Yes!” I loved that and smiled in accomplishment, as she paid me and was about to say goodbye. “I hope your friends love your hair as much as you! You know when there’s a selfie involved, the client must be happy!” I told her I had smiled when I heard her snap one from her phone.

She informed me, “Oh, no, that noise wasn’t a selfie, I took a screen-shot of a barn owl. I have never seen one until I Googled it’s image just now. I want to be like you and your son.”

2 months later, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Tawny.