The Perils of Long Hair

There are all kinds of inside jokes between my college roommates and I about the length of my hair. These jokes have spread over the years to other friends as well-you know who you are! Most of them stem from a silly conversation one day in the dorms about engagements and marriage.

My hair is rather long right now. It has been longer in the past year, but it is still long. I go through shampoo and conditioner like there's no tomorrow. I've also been contemplating cutting my hair rather short again.

So, I was washing my hair this morning and thinking about something else in my life that God is giving me insight in to. Totally distracted from washing my hair. So distracted in fact that I paid no attention to the bottle I grabbed. I poured some of the contents into my hand and started rubbing it in to my hair. I realized there was no lather, but thought maybe I forgot to put anything in my hands. Yes, folks-I was that distracted. So, I reached for the bottle again, poured more into my hands, and realized there was still no lather. I was also a little confused as to why my hands were suddenly stuck and knots were forming in my hair. I pulled one hand out of my hair and grabbed the bottle I was pretty sure was my shampoo. Nope-conditioner! I had been putting conditioner straight into my hair; which for some reason was causing knots instead of removing them (probably due to having very fine hair). I figure my hair looks a little extra greasy today with all the extra conditioner now in it. :-)

I'm also left asking myself why I have long hair right now. In the last month I almost put body wash and shaving cream in my hair due to distraction-I caught myself in time for those. Those bottles also have completely different shapes, so that's a huge help.

To all those who know the inside jokes about the length of my hair from college-that is not why it's currently long! However, if you have any proof of that, I'd greatly appreciate that you share it with me! ;-)

Maybe it really is time for me to cut my hair or "chop it" as I say. At the very least, it needs to be trimmed, it's doing that annoying "V" thing in the back with all the layers again. But, I really wanted to wait until I was at my goal weight to cut it short again; I'm convinced the longer hair makes me look 5 pounds lighter. What girl doesn't appreciate that?

I welcome opinions-but don't promise to take any advice! Shocking, I know... :P

Grades

I hate grades, they make me nervous and I never feel like I measure up. Perhaps this is partly because most of my friends growing up were always so much more intelligent and did better in school than I did. Oh, and I need to mention my brainiac brother! My friends were so competitive about grades and class standing that by the time I was a freshman in high school, my entire identity was wrapped up in my grades. This led to all kinds of hurt and self-doubt when I struggled with certain subjects. I still don't understand geometry, so I just buy extra fabric for sewing and quilting projects-saves on tears.

Even in college and graduate school, I was highly private about the scores I received on exams and papers. It would usually take me hours (sometimes days) to even look at the notes and score out of fear that I failed. You have no idea how exasperated my friends would get with me! Well, actually, you do if you took classes with me and experienced the drill of me stuffing graded materials into my backpack before I or anyone else could see the outcome. :-) I would rarely even share my answers and corrected tests with study partners and friends in college, I was so embarrassed by how I did. Yeah, I was that bad about it. I actually had a professor in grad school who would pull me aside and verbally tell me my grade after class because it drove him crazy that I wouldn't look right away.

All of that to say, I received two grades in two different classes today that I was especially dreading. I still have an essay waiting to be graded (in a third class) and I'm nervous about it. However, God has been so good in my grades this semester! Oh, did I mention that a "B-" is failing? Yeah, just a little bit of pressure to do well. Kinda rough on a student who usually pulls "B's."

On the exam I was anxious over, I was given a 96%-far better than I thought I would do! I also scored 10/10 on my short essay that I wrote Sunday night. I couldn't believe that I was given 100% on this essay, it was rushed and I felt like it didn't properly address the questions. I also postponed writing it to go to FUSE, something I was really unsure of doing, but felt God nudging me to do and trust Him with this paper.

I've really been struggling with all these papers and school work the last couple of weeks and how they fit in with where God wants me to be spending my time and how to balance everything. Slowly but surely, I feel like I'm starting to figure some things out and am trying to stop relying on my own strength to get through classes and trust Him with all of it instead.

All that to say-Woohoooo!! God is awesome and has blessed me with grades far better than I think I deserve. Only five more weeks left in the semester! Then, I'll be almost a third of the way through my program-unbelievable!!

Election

What a historic day for our country! It's so exciting!!! Now, the healing begins...