That’s actually not the weird part.

I don’t mean like “She sneaks into my room at night and cuts my hair” but rather “She has a small envelope of my hair from my first haircut” which is decidedly more wholesome. I mean yeah it’s a little weird but it used to be popular in Victorian times so maybe she’s just being sentimental.

She has a few others from various milestones in my life. We had always been at odds about my hair – I’m a guy and I wear it really long, almost down to my waist. I say “had” because that changed in high school when I donated two feet of hair to a foundation that makes wigs for kids. She apologized for always giving me a hard time about it and said that she supports my hair now. That meant a lot. She kept a few strands in an envelope.

We were going through a cedar chest of hers recently looking at old photos and keepsakes and whatnot, when I came across these envelopes and chuckled a little bit. There were more than I remembered, but some that stuck out (aside from those already mentioned) were:

• Alex’s second hair cut 02/07/1991 (there wasn’t a “third haircut” envelope so she must have gotten bored)

• Alex’s rat tail 11/19/1997 (I had one in the 90s and she was absolutely right to hate it)

• Alex’s friend Anthony’s hair 06/15/1994 (apparently at one point I had asked her to do this?)

So yeah a little weird objectively speaking, but in context it makes more sense.

The only one I couldn’t understand and she couldn’t explain was one labeled “Alex’s final haircut 04/26/2022”