My Curly Date

Eating at a romantic cafe I am always looking at all the other couples. I should be intimately discussing the food, the wine, the atmosphere, our plans, anything. But I can't help myself. What I am really wondering: why is that couple fighting? Does that couple in the booth always where matching shoes? Does that picky couple send back their wine everywhere they go? Tonight its the curly couple that catches my eye.
Both have perfect dark curls; his coiled tightly above his head, hers in cascading ringlets down her back. I imagine all their shared hair products in the bathroom spilling out of the cabinets, filling up counter space, and even the products that never worked relegated to underneath the sink. Do they fix each others curls? Do they have a deep understanding of each others hair? Was it those curls that first attracted them together, some mutual loathing flat irons and frizz? I am trying to focus on my date, my food, my wine... Yes. Yes! YES!!! I decide they do fix each others hair, and they do understand each others curls and it was what attracted them for the first time.
I shake myself free of the detailed thoughts about the curly couple. I too am having a great night, a perfect date. As we are leaving it begins to mist outside. My date leans in, his kiss blurs with the white city lights. He suggests going for a walk. I look at him and say "you are talking to a woman with curly hair and suede boots on." He smiles and steps into the street to get a cab. He doesn't have curly hair but he knew walking was not an option. We may not share hair products or bond over bad hair days, but we do have great dates.

Sassy Noodle Hair

You know how sometimes you feel like you're saying the same thing over and over, and nothing is getting through to your child?
And then one day, something happens that makes you realize they've been listening all along.
I was folding laundry when my curly 7-year-old, Emma, came running into the room full of excitement. She told me to sit down because she had a story she wanted to read me out of her "Highlights" magazine. I couldn't imagine what it could be about. Horses? Cats? Candy?
She began to read "Sassy Noodle Hair. The story is about a little girl named Sass who was going to be in a wedding, and she asks her Aunt Ella to straighten her hair.
"Nobody wants curly hair these days," says Sass.
She idolizes Tina Marie, a little girl in her class with straight blonde hair - a girl who will also be in the wedding. Her aunt tells her she should appreciate her beautiful curls. But she finally gives in and straightens her hair. When the little girl arrives at the wedding, she looks for Tina Marie.
"I could see a girl with the same dress as mine," Sass says. "She was standing with her back toward me, and talking to a group of people. But that girl couldn't be Tina Marie. Because there, spilling out of her tiara, was curl after springing curl. I stood trying to make sense of it all."
Of course, it was Tina Marie.
"She learned to appreciate her curls," Emma told me. "You need to put this story up on your web site so kids will like their hair."