day 4

Yesterday a lady rolled down her car window and shouted an enthusiastic "I love your hair" as she approached the traffic light and turned the corner out of view. It made me feel like a million bucks that a random stranger would feel compelled to cross that invisible barrier we put up here in the western world: this "privacy wall" I love to see shattered.
I've been somewhat surprised by the reactions so far. Really the only signs of disapproval I've gotten haven't been more than "no comment," and the occasional "that's gross..." As the receptionist at a midwifery with a mostly Amish clientele, I didn't know what to think when it came to work. The staff is the best you could ask for with personalities that make me feel like I'm just hanging out; so I wasn't too worried about what my co-workers would say. And to be honest, my experience with the Amish is that, regardless of how opinionated they may or may not feel, they tend to show faces of even-keeled humility more often than strong emotions of disapproval or negativity.
I remember my Amish cousins telling my sister her short hair looked "dumb" when we were all too young to counteract that urge to say exactly what we felt and to laugh at whatever looked different, but I really can't remember any other strong words of disapproval since then. My energetic little Amish granny barely said anything even when I chopped all my hair off about 3 years ago.
I do remember her shuffling up to my ponytail about a year ago and squinting with her slowly failing eyes, waiting until she was so close that she could reach out and feel the ponytail with her fingers to say, "Oh good, your hair's growing back. I like it better this way."

...I think i'll visit grandma this weekend.