Making dad happy by Chris

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As you may recall from my story Easter Memories, I decided to cut off my long hair the day before Easter (April 10) in 1982.

My hair covered my ears and spilled over my collar and into my eyes, as it had done since I turned 13 about 4 1/2 years earlier and was finally allowed to wear it like I liked it, but I finally got it cut short. My father loved it when I got it cut above the ears, off the collar and out of the eyes, and even asked for the barber to thrash it with the thinning shears.

For the next month, I didn't think much of my hair. It grew fast, and it was spilling over my ears and back onto the collar. My dad didn't say anything about it, but I knew he wasn't thrilled with it.

But that changed after school on May 11, 1982. With my high school graduation less than two weeks away, I decided it was time for another haircut. I walked to Broadway South Barber Shop in the Waldo area of Kansas City and got the same haircut I had received the day before Easter.

When my dad got home from work, he said he loved it.

"That looks amazing," he said. "I hope you keep it short."

As it turns out, I decided to do just that. Twelve days later, I was back in the same barbershop for a fresh trim so I would look nice for my high school graduation on May 24. (I checked and it was that day instead of May 31, as I had said in Easter Memories.) I'm glad now that I have a neat appearance in the pictures taken that day.

I have never had long hair since that haircut on May 11, 1982. Friday will mark 30 years without hair spilling over on my ears or collar.

And although I had gotten two haircuts in a span of 12 days, unheard of for a teenager during that time, I made it three in 15 days after my graduation. Read about it in my next story.

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