Big Hair

As I'm continuing my journey through the never ending boxes of photos, I have come to realize something about my three sisters. They all really loved big hair in their twenties and thirties. 

This is my sister Charlene or as she demands being called, Char. I have a ridiculous number of photos of Char with huge hair, mostly beehives, because she's twelve years older than me which means she was from the beehive wearing generation. No, seriously, it's a real hairdo, look it up. I'm pretty sure it was named that because bees could have truly set up residence in that thing. Anyway, the other thing Char did with her big hair was to have the big part at the bottom. She was very hip that way. Her numerous boyfriends never knew what to expect, I suppose. Was she going to be rocking a beehive or would she answer the door with these Disney dog details? Wait, maybe she was a Disney character. I mean, check out the princess dress. Either way, she's a beauty, inside and out. But still.....big hair.

I mean, come on. Tell me you don't see it.

Then, there's Kelly. Or should I say, Led Zeppelin's favorite groupie. Kelly's hair through the years went from long braids, to long and straight, to BIG, to not quite so big, then very short, back to fairly poofy, and then effn cancer took it all. No matter what her hair or bald head looked like, she always looked great. She made sure of that because she was fancy. This reminds me of a Kelly hair story though. She and I were staying at MD Anderson. She was going through yet another treatment with surgery and her long perfect hair was falling out. We made an appointment with the salon in the basement of the hospital to have her head shaved because the falling out part was too awful to deal with on the daily. The morning of the appointment, I was pushing her in her wheelchair, making jokes and pretending to crash her into walls and doors when she started crying. I stopped and bent down to apologize for upsetting her but she let me know it wasn't me, it was facing having her head shaved. I got really angry inside at the entire situation and said, "Listen! We're going to do this together. I'm going to have them shave my head as well and then let anyone say anything to us. I'll kick their ass." Her response was classic Kelly. She told me I was not going to shave my head because that's exactly the stupid, weirdo, kind of thing I would do even if she didn't have cancer. We both laughed until we were crying. Then off we went, had her head shaved and went to Starbucks next to the cafeteria afterwards. It was a good day.

This is my youngest sister, Debi. This wonderful human being came into our family when she was about 17 years old. I was already married with kids when she moved in with our parents and Kelly, but from the moment we met, I loved her and claimed her as a Casas. I adore Debi and have felt very connected to her from day one. That's why I'm so sad Char and Kelly got to her before I could save her. Yes, it's true. Debi also became a fancy, big hair girl. I vividly remember watching the transformation. She went from straight hair and no makeup to big hair with all the trimmings almost overnight. I can say, through it all, Debi remained the same, soft-hearted sister and I love her for that. She's actually a lot like our mother as well, in all the good ways, so I suppose it all turned out exactly as it was meant to. Although, I still say that was a lot of hairspray between the three of them. 

And then there was me in my twenties. Sheet white with anemia, needing a new bra as my mother loved to point out every time she saw me, no makeup, no nail polish, wonky hair. Shall I go on? I had three kids by the time I was twenty-six which explains the blank, confused, open-mouthed stare, I suppose. Regardless, I was happy, dammit! Some of my sisters and our mother were convinced I needed their help however. So, every time, and I mean every time, I would head south to visit for a week or two, the planets known as Char, Kelly and Bernice would align and begin their gravitational pull towards beauty products with my name on them. I'm not even joking. For instance, I'm thinking about the time I showed up at my parents a few days before our sister Debi's wedding shower. I was 31, looked pretty much the same as in the picture above although we had added two more children so the bra situation was probably even more dire. Whatever. I was happy. 

Anyway, when I arrive at my parents after a 4 hour drive, I'm happy to be there and ready to have a good time with the girls over the next few days. I've barely walked in the door however, and Bernie and her gang of Pink Ladies insist we head out the door to go shopping. I resist because I hate shopping. Of course, I lose because my mother had the ability up to her dying day to turn me into a ten year old. So, off we go to the mall where the three beauty experts buy me a new bra, a new dress, shoes, stockings (I mean, just kill me already) and then we all go get our nails done. I put my foot down on getting the nails done part but my mother promised we would go to Mimi's Cafe afterwards so what could I say. Yeah, I'm fully aware I have food issues and can be led like a piggie to it's pen with just the promise of popcorn. Judge me. I. Don't. Care. 

All that to say, this is what they turned me into in the picture below. Remember, I showed up with clothes to wear including shoes and a bra. I think there was a bra. Anyway, I had clothes. Who knows what happened to that outfit. It was probably the same one I was wearing in the anemic picture. Whatever. So, the following picture is of me at my sister Debi's shower. 

Big hair. HUGE HAIR! Makeup. Nails. Stockings and a dress that would have bought us groceries for a week. I'm just saying. They turned me into.....CHARLENE! I mean, check out that look on her face. She's Dr. Frankenstein gloating over what she's created with her team. My own aunts didn't recognize me. 

I love it when I can make my sister's make this face. It actually made all the cruelty of shopping almost worth it. Look at her. Still beautiful even with a weirdo face because of something I said. Just look to the left. That's her face smiling. Then look to the right. Weirdo face. Left, Char. Right, Char. It was like hanging out in Stepford with the Wives, I tell ya. The best part is, I can still make her crazy, even without big hair.

Last time we were in New York for the holidays, 2018 . It was fabulous. We were enjoying the streets of Manhattan when it started to rain so we ducked into this cute French Bakery for coffee and dessert. I told Char we should take a selfie but we should tilt our heads up so our double chins wouldn't show and she believed me. Bwahahahahaha Some things never change.