Sunday, March 15, 2015

To Grey or Not to Grey.


Grey hair.  We'll all get them. Some of us earlier than others.  It's inevitable.

I was 19 when I got my first grey hair.  Since then, it's been boxed dyes and professional dyes over and over and over.

At what age do you give in?  At what age do you just let go and let "life" take over?

I'm still pretty young, I know.  I'm in my 40's.  But I've been dying my hair for almost 25 years.  It's exhausting, but we all know, especially in this day & age, that greying gracefully at this young of an age is not an option.  The stigma that I would feel going grey would be unbearable.  Isn't that horrible? I don't want people to think I'm old or think me stupid for wanting to go grey eventually.

I just don't want to be that 65-70 year old lady still dying her hair dark brown.  I do not want to be her.  We all know them; I know several.   "They can do whatever they want, Kaaren!"  Of course they can. I just don't want that for me.  I want to age gracefully, yet that sentence in itself is ridiculous.  For though we want  to say "She's going grey, kudos to her!" and "She's aging gracefully!" what we really think is "Good Lord, she looks OLD!!"  We don't think "Smart, learned, experienced, wise, sexy, attractive."  We think "OLD!"

Do I really want be the one going down fighting, wearing embarrassingly inappropriate clothes, getting Botox or plastic surgery or having inappropriate hair for my age?   Shoot, I don't like the current length of my hair too much. I think long hair after a certain age is a no-no.  Granted, I won't go buzz-cut short, but to my shoulders would be nice.  This hair down my back, that I have to dye every 4 weeks, is too long.   I am not 20. I don't even like bangs after a certain age.  My preferences are outdated, perhaps.

My husband's temples are grey.  He's got dirty blonde/light brown hair, so it's hardly noticeable, and I think he looks darned sexy that way anyway.  MY hair is dark brown. HOW do I "go grey" when I have this dark hair?  When I eventually decide it's time (when?? 50? 55? It's not too far away!)  How do I go from dark brown to grey; let the roots grow out? UGH!  NO!  Do like a lot of women I've seen online and just BOOM, go grey?  I'm a BRUNETTE.  What a thing to have to deal with, huh? (First World Problems; don't think I don't get the ridiculousness of all this, too.)

Ladies, tell me your feelings!  What do you think? What would YOU do?




Elevensies

Our little gal turned 11 this month.  Eleven!

We threw her a skating party and we had a blast. Our family from S. Florida and Tampa drove up and over to come FOR THE DAY to be with us.  For two families, that was six hours of driving/ 3 each way. Four to five for the Tampa people.

You can't understand how much I love them for that.  Isabel didn't invite a lot of classmates.  Four, to be precise.  She didn't want to invite the entire class. Just her 4 closest pals.  Two of the 4 showed up.  Having my sisters, their spouses and a combined total of 5 nieces and nephews just made the party.

Thank you sisters and brothers-in-law.  We love you so much!!

She designed this outfit and drew her shirt herself.

Attack on Titan cake.  Too hard to explain.  Japanese Anime.

Isabel and a classmate.

Sister Vicky and Lissette's husband John playing free video games.

Vicky's daughter Ava with her Aunt Lissette.

Me, Isabel, Lissette, John & their daughters Lyric & Giana.