Tuesday, April 30, 2013

WoooHooo... I won it!

one of the hair creations
What a lovely surprise, I'd forgotten I entered this giveaway, and today, Kathy at Bermudaonion announced that I was the winner of http://bermudaonion.net/2013/04/19/author-event-and-giveaway-kim-boykin/.

I wish I'd live close enough to attend one of these author events, but alas I do not.  The Wisdom of Hair, conjures up past memories for me.  At a time in my life when my friends from my teen years are dying, way too early, memories of better times seem to come forward.  The Wisdom of Hair brings me to a time when I met my good friend Mary and her family.  My sister Alice, loved boys, and I mean really and they loved her, she could meet someone and have a date by the end of the conversation, the flowers and chocolate that girl got... boy oh boy! Well this was such an occasion, I'm not quite sure how she met M but very shortly after, and I mean like a week or two after the meeting, M's mother was having heart surgery and his father suddenly passed away.  So there was this new "immigrant family" kids ranging from 17 - 4 now without a father, and almost no mother, (she was very sick prognosis was not good)  So Alice was going to visit, and dragged me along.  We got off the bus too early, and had to walk.  Alice doesn't do walking, even back then.  She had heels on, Alice doesn't do heels well either.  So we walked probably 3 or 4 miles, and you can imagine by the time we arrived at this saddest house ever, we were quite exhausted.  I don't remember exactly what the visit was like, but my friendship with Mary began.  We were probably in grade 6 or 7.  We shared a great deal, we talked about dating, and the gambit of adventures teens go through.  I spent many a day/night at her home and she at mine, my mom made donuts, and sewed for us, Mary's mom did get better and she was not much of a cook, but boy did she make a great liverwurst sandwich.  Mary's older sister "the 17year old" was a hairdresser, she had just finished hairdressing school, and they had a little room in their home that she did hair.  She would be plagued with customers who did not give her a day off and paid her what they felt like.  One Sunday, I had spent the night, a customer arrived at 8:30 a.m. because she was having a bad hair day, and wanted "service|".  Gail refused and hid in the closet, we were to tell the customer she was not home, she didn't take no for an answer and insisted that Mary could do something for her that day.  Mary did, and thus began her career.  She did go to hairdressing school, but didn't graduate. (Couldn't afford to miss work) She won many a contest for her creativity, she worked with her sister for many years, they just recently closed up shop.  Those two girls provided for that orphaned family for many, many years. Their mom while better, never was able to work at any high paying job, and as you can imagine she still had young children at home.  The Hair Salon became a place much like the bar at "Cheers" we'd gather and gab.  SO I'm anxious to read my new win.   Thanks to Kathy at Bermudaonion and to Kim Boykin for their generosity.

7 comments:

fredamans said...

Congratulations on your win Irene. Happy reading!

Nise' said...

Congrats on your win!

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Congrats on you win!

bermudaonion said...

I mailed the book yesterday and hope you love it!!

Vicki said...

What a great win!! The book sounds good and I can't wait to hear your thoughts!

Loved the story about you, your sister, and Mary!

Parabolic Muse said...

OH, wow. What a story!

I've always said, when I go to the Home, I'm going to take pictures of myself as a young tart, and have them all around the room, so that the keepers won't think I'm not a real person with a groovy past.

It's all lies, but it should work!

Jenny said...

Congratulations dear Irene, and I still contend nobody published in any book on earth can spin a heartfelt yarn with humility, humor, insight, and originality quite like you. Hair's to you my friend xoxoxo

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to my wonderful son,  it's bee 33wonderful years. Hope this year proves to be the best yet.