I had to zip over to the pharmacy to pick up my meds Saturday afternoon, and it just happened to be at the very same time a Noah’s Ark-style deluge of rain decided to drop from the sky right over my head. By the time I had made my way inside the store from the parking lot, I was soaked. Fortunately, I was wearing one of my water-resistant golf caps, so my gorgeous hairdo was not rained out. And of course I had to make the equally wet trek back to my car after I had purchased my meds. I seriously wanted to snap a selfie of me getting soaked as I dashed back to the safety of my vehicle, but I feared my phone would drown if I took it out of my pocket. As I drove home, I was reminded of Mom’s creativity when it came to devising ways to shield her weekly-done hair from any rain or snow she might encounter as she went through her busy days. Yes, she had rain bonnets, but they easily got left hither and yon—wherever she was when the rain stopped. I’ve lost umbrellas the same way in at least three states and the District of Columbia. So, after I got home Saturday and changed into dry clothes, I made a list of some of Helen Sr.’s bonnet-type choices. I marvel at Mom’s ingenuity.
Mom’s go-to when she had to leave the house in the rain, but couldn’t find a rain bonnet, was to shield her hair with a section of the newspaper. Of course, she thoughtfully selected a section Dad wouldn’t miss, like the classifieds or the Arts. I also saw her shield her hair with any one of his old Field & Stream magazines on occasion. Back in the olden days before cell phones, I once discovered the Delta phone book in Mom’s car. When I asked her why she needed a phone book in the car, she quickly told me she had used it a few days before to protect her freshly done hair from the rain when she had to rush from the house to the car to do an errand in a drizzle. But her efforts to hold a fortress around her hair in rainy times did not stop with reading material. No, I once saw Mom hold a basketball directly above her preciously coiffed hair as she scurried from the front door to her car as the clouds let forth a humble sprinkle. Her most creative and surprising choice of hairdo shield by far, however, has to be the time I saw her walking down the sidewalk in the rain carrying one of Dad’s pistol cases—pistol inside—over her impeccable hair. I’ve got to hand it to the old girl: that is heavy duty hairdo protection. Ain’t nobody dared mess with Mom’s salon-done hair. In her words, “It has to last until Church.”
BTW Bow Tie o’ the Day is one of my duct tape creations. I admit I have the duct tape bin open this morning. No good can come of that. 🤡