Day 248 of 365 Days of Being Thankful

         Today I am thankful that Olivia is being so successful in Cosmetology school.  She is now "on the floor."  Her school has a salon and people come and get their hair, cut, colored, shaved, shampooed, etc.  It is just like a regular salon but the work is done by students in training.  The prices are much cheaper than a regular salon.   Olivia's school offers two degrees.  The students can be in cosmetology or aesthetics(skin care).  Cosmetology covers hair and skin care.  Olivia is enrolled in the cosmetology program.  Today she had a customer who was a student in the aesthetics program there.  The girl already had her cosmetology licence from another cosmetology school but she wanted more training in skin care.  This girl had worked on her own hair and it was a catastrophe!  She experimented on her own hair but she is a cosmetologist so you'd think she would know what she was doing!  It was so bad that she had to wear a wig(which she had on).  Right then her hair was reddish and she wanted to bleach it and dye it blue!! Her red hair was really a burnt ORANGE color. The girl was wearing a wig.   From misusing the bleach she also had wisps of white on small sections of her hair!   She botched the dye job.  Then she got a friend involved.  Her friend did more damage to her hair which is why she was wearing a wig.  Olivia's teacher said OK, have a seat and take off the wig, saying  that it can't be that bad!!! Olivia was standing there expecting it to be NOT SO BAD!!  BUT IT WAS REALLY BAD!!  None of the students wanted to work on the girl's hair. Olivia's teacher told her to fix it with more bleach.  Olivia worked on her hair for over two hours. The girl said to Olivia "you don't think my hairs gonna fall off, is it?" Olivia fixed the girl's hair perfectly, she returned the color to blond. The girl was thrilled with the job Olivia did!

Orange hair with white wisps and dark brown roots.

Getting processed.

Back to blond, finished product!

         I am also thankful that I went to a bereaved parent meeting last night.  Only there, do I get to say Amy's name many times and no one gets weird or flinches or tries to change the subject.  So many parents there lost their kids to drugs.  They could probably be a separate group. For the next meeting, we are supposed to bring something we made from our deceased child's clothes or items, etc.  Some people have made quilts or capes. I didn't make anything from Amy's clothes. Most of them I gave away.  She never would have been wearing those clothes now because they would be so old and out of style. I put a lot of her necklace charms on a gold charm bracelet so maybe I will take that.  We talked about many different things, especially having one foot in the grief world and one foot in the real world and trying to balance.  We all know that we have completely changed who we once were.  Relationships with friends and family members change after the loss of a child.  Dan's sister-in-law didn't come to Amy's funeral, I have not spoken to her since then, except for the letter I wrote to her telling her that she was a pig and added to our grief.  I will never speak to her again. Another mom talked about how hurt she was that not one member of her husband's family came to her house when her son died.  Her own family lived in another country and she had been close to her husband's family.  Her son grew up with his cousins and had close relationships with them, and yet they never went to the home to express condolences or offer help. It is not something you can brush aside and get over.  It is impossible to understand the grief unless you live with it.   It is very difficult to live in two worlds. I think the meeting was helpful to the bereaved parents.  I am thankful to be part of this special group.