The Wonder of Our Hair!

Scan 93Scan 2Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, we were all about the hair. “Let it fly in the breeze and get caught in the trees. Give a home to the fleas, in our hair. A hive for the buzzing bees, a nest for birds, there ain’t no words. For the beauty, splendor, the wonder of our hair.” As our life changed, so did our hair. It created its own fairytale!

1974: Era of streakers, chokers, and Watergate. Gregger’s hair, best described as the brillo bushy-style, comb-over to the left, sideburns covered with wiry hair. Lip covered matching stache was classy! I wasn’t any better. I had a matching helmet head. Same comb-over to the left, hair covering my ears, and FROSTED! Not blond, not brown, but frosted with a touch of silver.

Scan 61976: Year of the tunic, Fonz jacket, Rocky and we got married! My hair had grown out into  a flippy-do style without much body. It was a mousy brown with a touch of blonde-streaked in. Gregger still had his bush helmet and stache. But I thought he was the best looking guy on the planet. And that green velvet tux with the frilly shirt was the ultimate! Not to mention my wedding dress!

Scan 38 (1)1979: Village People, jumpsuits, walkman, and ADAM was born!  Christmas morning Gregger decided it was time for the stache to go. I LOVED it! I didn’t know him stache-free. He was a whole new kind of handsome! His hair was thinning, much to his despair, and his forehead was growing wider with age. But he had the answer – BIGGER glasses!

1980’s: Fanny packs, Air Jordans, Nintendo, and the ultimate HAIR decade! More changes than I could count. From brown to blonde and back again. Straight to curly. As I was changing, Gregger was losing it and trying desperately to hold on. In all honesty, it was time for it to go! It was best described as the “fringe.” But he used his Pert shampoo and dried it daily with his old-fashioned brush dryer. I’d stand idly by wondering when the day would come that he would just give it all up! In the meantime, I was going through my own hair crisis. Holy crap! I had the super high bangs, glued with a can of spray; the curly perm that Adam called my “Lion Head;” and the Scan 10busby head. You name it, I had it! Scan 7

1990’s: Platform shoes, fanny packs, and “The Rachel.” Bring it on! I decided as Gregger was losing it I should start cutting. From back to shoulders to ears and total buzz – what the hell was I thinking? At one point I think Gregger’s hair was LONGER than mine! And I kept it that way for over 15 years! Gregger was either a great guy to let me do what I wanted or a schmuck for letting me walk around looking like crap! I thought I looked great, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on that one! Needless to say, he was thrilled when I started to let my locks grow again! Scan 33

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 2000’s:  Juicy Couture, rhinestones, and Uggs. This was a real time of change. It was the beginning of a new millennium. The internet, digital technology, texting, smartphones, and social networking were on the rise while the length of my hair was growing. Gregger’s was gradually disappearing. Literally. We finally convinced him it was time to buzz. No more Pert. No more hair dryers. Buzz. Simple. Maintenance free. And he loved it. So after all those painstaking years of trying to save the last remnants of hair on his head, he was finally free. And he looked AMAZING! His eyes twinkled. His smile shone brighter than before. And who the hell cared anyway? It was simply hair. It was the super guy inside that I loved. It was his heart. His soul. His compassion. His kindness. Lucky me. Bald was truly BEAUTIFUL!!!!

me and greg

in a cinch

It’s a “Cinch”

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I knew I hit the jackpot with Gregger for so many reasons, but what woman wouldn’t love a man who loves to clean! This guy was great with a sponge, mop, vacuum, toilet brush, and more! But, his favorite was cleaning glass! He would clean mirrors, windows, tables, etageres, or whatever clear products he could put his hands on until there wasn’t a streak in sight. But, he had a science, and you did NOT mess with the Gregger! Always, and ONLY use newspaper…UGH! This left my hands and nails black and dirty. Why not just use paper towels? Nope, newspaper it was, so the job was his! For years Windex was his product of choice, until Gregger discovered the ultimate Cinch.  cinch

You would have thought this was the end-all of all products on the market. We had at least five to six bottles on stock at a time in our house, and, seriously, our windows, mirrors, and glass did NOT get THAT dirty! All was good with the cleaning world as long as Gregger had his Cinch. It pretty much worked on everything, and our house was Cinched clean. Then the dreaded day came when we had to restock and the store shelves were EMPTY. Not a bottle of Cinch in sight.  I scrounged this valley in search of that ludicrous cleaner – from Safeway, Fry’s, and Albertson’s to Target, WalMart, Home Depot and any other store that may carry cleaner. I googled it, searched Amazon, and drove myself crazy. I had to break the news. Cinch was clearly off the market. Gregger was devastated. He tried brand after brand but continued to mourn his Cinch. I think he finally settled with some Costco brand glass cleaner that was satisfactory enough to suffice his needs. Either that or window cleaning had finally taken a much lower rank on his priority pole.

the-simple-things-in-life-seems-more-meaningful-now-quote-1Now, my world is just fine without Cinch, but imagine my exhilaration when I saw this big red bottle with that inscription on the store shelf the other day. I wanted to pick up my phone and call to the heavens, “Hey Gregger…CINCH is back! All is good and clean with the world!” I just grinned. It was one of those silly moments that would have made him so happy. He didn’t care about expensive presents, fancy dinners, or flashy things, but if I had brought home a case of Cinch, he would have grinned from ear to ear. I can see it, I can feel it, and I know he’s smiling now. Sometimes it’s the little things that bring us joy, give us hope, and help us make it through another day.