If you live in the same town I do, it is pretty much guaranteed that I don’t know your name, unless we have happened to work or volunteer together at some point in the 10+ years that I’ve lived here. It took some getting used to, this not knowing anybody, since I come from a town where I could not only tell you the name of everyone who lived in every house, including the pets, but also the names of the families who lived in the house before. (Having a father who was the mayor and who owned the only grocery store in town came with lots of fun facts. Of course, living in a town that was only eight blocks wide helped too.)
That said, I may not know your name but if I see you more than twice at the gas station or grocery store or credit union, I will remember your face. And I will know you’re part of my new hometown, even if I still don’t know what to call you when I have to apologize for ramming my cart into you at K-Mart.
So, I’m sorry Lady with the Adorable Daughter whose name I don’t know because I really wish we were friends so I could have perhaps said something to you that would have kept this from happening. You see, I have noticed you around town before. Actually, I’ve noticed your beautiful little girl. How old is she? Five? Maybe six? Adorable. Those bright blue eyes and that pretty smile…I love how her hair fell down her back with those big soft bouncy curls. All that beautiful hair that was still pristine, untouched by curling irons, highlights and all those other horrible things we grown-up women do to our hair to make it look like it did back before we started doing all those things. Just gorgeous. She actually made my uterus ache and my uterus has never so much as twinged in all these years.
Yes, I’m sorry that I don’t know your name and that we aren’t friends. Because maybe you might have asked my opinion before it happened and I could have said something to change the outcome. Not that this is any of my business at all, I understand that, but maybe I could have said something. Anything.
Anything that would have kept you from cutting and coloring! your little girl’s hair to look like Victoria Beckham’s. Don’t get me wrong, Posh rocks that look and many women have asked for a similar cut from their stylist. Grown women.
But a five year old? With a chubby cherub face? It is just wrong. Simply wrong. Even Victoria Beckham didn’t look like Victoria Beckham when she was a little girl.
Hello, my name is Debra and I’m the woman who audibly gasped in Kroger on Monday night. And then rammed my cart into you.
But you kinda had it coming.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 11:33 pm
::applauds::
First of all, this post’s title could not be more perfect.
Second of all, the male version of this would be parents deciding (who else could it be?) to give their young boys rat-tail haircuts; but just as you say, this sort of thing is just bizarre–it’s of a piece with those recent posts of mine about parental obligations to their children. Coiffing and dressing little kids to look like Spice Girls or your local thug isn’t cute or charming–but even more important, it benefits no one but the parent fool enough to do such things.
Kids should be kids for as long as possible. Turning them into their parents’ fantasy Mini-Mes is something I’d rather not know the psychology of but wish it would stop.
Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 7:06 am
Oh, no. How sad. I hate to see such things! Good for you for ramming her with your cart!
Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 11:42 am
::raises eyebrows::
While I would never let this hair style happen to a young child of mine, the facts are that this wasn’t your child and so its really none of your business. Ramming someone with a cart in public (in the presence of their children) isn’t forgiven because you have judged them to have made a bad hair choice on their child. Also we both know the town you live in and who knows how connected this person is and how screwed you really are. You live in a big small town that can be clique-ish at best and clannish at worst. Stop winning battles and losing wars.
And K-Mart?!? What about not supporting companies that grind out the small town grocery?
Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Alissa and JCN:
I just read your comments and I’m still laughing. I guess I didn’t make it very clear that I didn’t hit the poor woman with my cart on purpose. It was more of a “couldn’t take my eyes off the little girl…OOOPS!” sort of accident.
But the fact that you think the woman who drives around with a Prevent Violence license plate, advocates for abused/mistreated seniors and victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, became a vegetarian because she couldn’t stand the thought of animals being killed just so she could have a cheeseburger, and sat here for almost a week watching television with a spider because she didn’t have the heart to put him out in the cold (and wouldn’t think of killing him)…that she goes around plowing into innocent people with shopping carts.
That’s pretty funny!
Friday, February 15, 2008 at 7:34 am
okay that makes more sense…and its funny too. I have to constantly back away from how other people raise their kids and just let so much go. But like I try people, kids grow up inspite of their childhood experience. Its the only way to explain good people getting raised by what appears to be escaped mental patients. Sorry for the confusion. Nice avatar too!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 6:17 pm
How did I just find this post now? I hate it when people do this! Coloring a young child’s hair – yeah, that is just bizarre.