hair dye
My grand niece, Christina has to spend this, her 17th birthday, staying off of her feet after having surgery on her knee a few days ago. While I’m sure that the pain of her injured knee was far worse than the knee that is healing nicely, my guess is that fact does little to make her feel better about having to spend her birthday sitting in a chair waiting for this whole ordeal to be over.
The good news for Christina, is that her good friend and cousin, my granddaughter, Shai is spending part of the day with her. We have had several cousins in our family who were such good friends that they didn’t even seem like cousins, just friends. Christina and Shai were born 5 days apart, with another cousin Chris in there to, at 4 days after Christina. We were a busy bunch at that time. With Chris being a boy, he didn’t get into the girl thing with Christina and Shai.
Christina and Shai have many of the same interests. They love shopping, and used to hang out at the mall as much a possible. They both like all the girlie things, from make up, to hair dye, to jewelry, to clothes. But probably the thing that stands out the most about these girls is that they are just plain goofy when they get together. They are always posting the funniest pictures together, just to see if they can get a laugh out of their 
friends. The goofier the face they make, the more they like the picture.
Today is Christina’s 17th birthday, and it has been a difficult one with the knee surgery. Christina, I hope you have a good day in spite of the pain you are in. We love you very much. Happy birthday Christina. If you can’t have a great day, at least have a goofy one between the pain med doses.
Door to door salesmen have been around for a long time, and while many of us wish they would leave us alone, people used to like buying things that way. From the traveling medicine shows to the peddler selling everything from tonics to hair dye. It was how people learned about new products and without shipping too.
Still, with some good products out there, people didn’t feel too ripped off for the most part. And many products like the Fuller Brush Company and others like them were on business a long time or still are today. It was simply a part of our history.
There were some unusual sales too, or at least to my way of thinking. One of those that always seemed strange to me, but probably didn’t at the time is the photographer. I’ve seen the traveling photographer on shows like “Little House on the Prairie” and others, but never thought I would personally know anyone who would have their picture taken by a traveling photographer. All that changed when I asked my Aunt Sandy about a picture I found of her and my grandparents when she, as the youngest, was the last of the children who hadn’t married and was still at home when the photographer stopped by.
Grandpa decided that having their picture taken was something that would be fun, as he allowed the photographer to take their picture. Now back in those days, there were no instant pictures, so I don’t know if the picture came in the mail, or in the photographer brought the picture back, but in my opinion, it was a really nice picture, and I’m glad Grandpa decided to have it taken.
These days, a photographer is not really necessary for most pictures. Cell phones and digital cameras can provide instant access to those shots that used to take a week or more to receive. And if a shot turns out bad you can see it right away, and fix it. And then there is photo shop, and other programs that allow you to fix bad pictures. I suppose either way has its good and bad points. And its place in history.
A few days before my first two grandchildren were born, my nephew and his wife at the time, had their daughter, Christina. Maybe because of having their birthdays close together, and maybe not just because of that, Christina and my granddaughter, Shai have always been good friends. For a long time, Christina lived in Texas, and Shai was not able to see much of her, but when she moved back to Casper, it was as if they had never been apart. Cousins aren’t always good friends, but it is a little more common in our family, and since Christina and Shai are the only girls near their age, it made sense that they should be friends.
Christina has always been a bit flashy…not unlike most kids her age. Her favorite thing was to dye her hair is wild ways. Her aunt, my niece, Toni was that way. She dyed her hair just about every color in the book. It is Christina’s goal to dye her hair as many colors as her Aunt Toni. While I don’t dye my own hair, and have always liked my natural color, I know a lot of people like to spice it up a bit, and that is their right. Some of her colors have been wild and crazy, while others are fairly standard colors. Either way, you never know exactly what to expect with Christina.
Still, as spicy as she can be, Christina is a very sweet girl, and I love her very much. She lived in Texas for a number of years, and so we didn’t have as much chance to get to know her as she was growing up. When she came home for visits, she often told me that she missed the closeness to the rest of the family. It is something that goes along with living away from the rest of a close family, unfortunately, and it can be very hard on the kids. It’s no one’s fault…it just is. Now, while Christina misses her mom and little brothers, she is living in Casper again with her dad, step-mom, and little sisters and brother on her dad’s side. I know that there are times that she is torn because of missing the other half of her family, but we are very happy to have her here with us.
Today is Christina’s Sweet Sixteenth Birthday…that very special birthday in the life of a kid. Soon she will be driving and the next thing we know she will be graduating. Time goes by so fast. I remember well the day she was born…and it seems like only yesterday. Happy birthday Christina!! We love you!!
