The End of an Era

I never thought I'd be a cheater. Loyalty is one of my strong suits and once someone becomes part of my life, I remain loyal to them for years, decades even. The fact that some of my current closest friends attended high school with me and that I married someone I met in fourth grade proves that I tend to keep people close to me for long periods of time. But next week that will change.

I've been in a relationship with a particular person since I was twelve years old. Twenty years is a long time to know someone. I don't see them very often (every other month or so), but they've watched me go from high school to college to teaching to parenting. And except for one minor incident in college (because don't we all go a little wild in college?), I've remained loyal to this person.

But, next Tuesday I will be cheating on this person. Actually, I'm breaking up with this person and I feel terrible about it, especially since they don't know that I'm abandoning our relationship. However, the distance between us has increased and we've just grown apart.

Yes, folks, next week I'm going to be cheating on my hairdresser.

I think she knows my hair better than I do and cuts it exactly how I ask for it to be cut every single time. And she knows me so well that she can predict when I'm going to march in and say, "Cut it all off!" She fixed my hair for prom. She fixed the bad haircut I got when I cheated on her while in college. She got up early and fixed my hair for my 11 am wedding for free. (Don't worry, she was well tipped) After Sydney was born, she called my mom to check on me. She gave both Sydney and Liam their first haircuts. I love her.

But now that we live in The Land of Fruit, her salon is 40 miles away (remember - Houston is a very spread out city) and I just can't make the drive anymore. It takes an hour to get there and an hour to get back, I have to pay $7 in tolls, use half a tank of gas and I have to find sitters for the kids for that time. It's just too much.

So I'm trying someone new next week. I hope it works out. She could be my hairdresser for the next twenty years.