The Harris Family - We Don't Split Hairs

Shane - The Fake Mohawk
Feaux Hawk? Fohok? Fohawk? Oh well, it doesn’t matter how you spell it; it all adds up to one very cool thing. For those of you who don’t know about this new hair style, let me explain. I will start with telling you what it is not. It is not the name of the cool new dancer on my favorite summer reality show, So You Think You Can Dance. It is not the name of what my son does when he pretends to cough up something nasty just to gross out his mom. And, it isn’t the name of that fake predatory bird sitting on the mantle in your grandfather’s study. A feaux hauk is the newest hairstyle for young boys these days. It imitates a Mohawk in the sense that it is short on the sides and only stands up a little bit on top - hence the term “feaux” hawk. And it is the perfect hairstyle for that very cool teenager who wants to stand out in a crowd without being too obvious. Or, in my case, for a really cool 2nd grader-going-into-3rd grade boy who is already trying desperately to become an individual in a family of fashion conservative people.

Kyle - The Structural Mess
Remember when it was popular for girls of the 90’s to curl their bangs under in front and then take the hair behind it and stick it straight up? It was one of those looks that made one imagine a rooster standing on top of a fence that was sitting on the forehead of an otherwise pretty girl. Thank goodness that didn’t last very long! It was funny a few years later when the whole standing-up-in-front thing became popular for boys. It was really quite cute because it was kept close on the sides and only styled in the front. This style worked out very well for my older son. He is a highly precise individual who would never dream of doing anything too different with his clothing or hair styles. The problem came when the style morphed itself into a messy look on top rather than a combed-up, neat, compact look like he was used to. Messy? On purpose? And you had to use gel to make it stay that way all day? I don’t think so! Kyle has spent most of his 7th grade year trying to make his hair become an oxy moron – perfectly messy. But that’s ok. He has started to perfect this look rather well. In fact, I think he has come to accept that messiness is a virtue he can live with… for a little while… until he can get home and put on a ball cap. You know, being a precise person with messy hair is more difficult than you many think.

Mike – My Cul-de-Sac
What does this term represent to you? To me, it is a place where families live and gather, a place where block parties bring the giant inflatable toys for the kids to play on and giant ice chests of beverages for the adults to play with. A place where BBQ pits can be rolled around from back yards, and everyone brings some delectable morsel to plop on to sizzle away into the afternoon. It is a place where children can play safely in the street with out worry of a car speeding by to scare every mother in every driveway. In my mind, cul-de-sac equals community – community of the best kind.

If you are not sure of what a cul-de-sac is, let me use my husband’s head as a bit of a road map of an explanation. He would be very proud of me for this analogy since he works for Mapsco and thinks nobody can use a map if they don’t have the Y chromosome. So comparing his head to anything resembling a map would put a light in his eyes.

When I met my husband, he was the ripe old age of 19. He came complete with loving parents, the legs that reflected the track star that he was, and a mullet. His hair was as luxuriously think and curly as it was long - a completely sexy look for 1984. As he got older, and the mullet disappeared, so did a lot of the hair on the top of his head. But, as with most men losing their hair, it only thinned out on top and not on the side. As the years went on, this thinning started to look like a road on the top of his head – not a paved road yet – more like a path through a forest that is beginning to wither. So how does this reflect a cul-de-sac? Well, imagine, if you will, a clearing at the end of that path. That is a cul-de-sac!

I wonder if God realized when he made Mike into the man that he is today that his hair growth (or lack thereof) would reflect the images of a cul-de-sac that spring to my mind. Those images of security, happiness, bliss, and most importantly that of family. Did God decide the cul-de-sac would not only be the place I live with this man, but also be reflected ON this man? Did He intend for those images to replace the other family images that had been my perception for most of my teenage years? Of course He did! After years of contemplation, I have finally realized that Mike was sent to me for a very specific reason. He IS my cul-de-sac – in more ways than one.