I usually see myself as being pretty independent. I pay for my own school, I drive myself to get all of my tasks accomplished on time, and don’t typically allow other people to heavily influence my decisions. But yesterday I realized one aspect of my life where I have always really depended on my mom.

I have only ever had my hair “professionally” cut a handful of times in my life. Otherwise my mom has always kindly cut my hair for me. I don’t think I’ve ever really shown her due appreciation for that. (Usually I rebel against getting it cut in the first place.) Yesterday, thanks to Style America, I gained a new level of appreciation for this. I cannot stand my new haircut. (I’ve included before and after photos which show that pretty well.) I’ve been wearing a hat for the last 24 hours. To make things worse, I got this haircut right before taking a new banner photo taken for this page. (It should be up soon.)

There are a few things everyone takes for granted in their hometowns: hairstylists, doctors, dentists. Moving always requires finding new people to fill these roles. That’s never a comfortable process, but usually you find that the new people are even better than the old. That was not the case here. I think I’ll be wearing my hat for the next month or so, or at least until I can go home for damage control.