Your mother’s father shows your future hair loss. Or so goes the legend. While the science is a bit more complex than that, maternal genes are one factor that can’t be ignored. If this ends up being the strongest influence for my child’s future hairline, well, you are very welcome child. Enjoy your luscious flowing locks for many, many years to come.
I actually like to put stock into this idea, not just because my dad has incredible hair even into his 70s. It often feels like there are so few things that come from me. My husband’s genes are strong and there’s just so much of my feral cackle I can train into my child. In the gift of our kid, my husband is team nature and I am team nurture. Let’s see how it goes in the long run.
The future of my kid’s hair is a wonderful example of both. While I didn’t choose my dad or the genes he shared with me, the reality is that my mom did. She may not been thinking of hair specifically, but she did consider many things about him even as far as reviewing his parents as she was deciding her future, which eventually turned into my future.
I often go off on tangents about how great my mom is, but I’ll make this one brief. While she may initially charm you with her spontaneous, carefree and wild nature, that’s not all there is to her. She is so smart, evolved and strategic. She knew exactly what she wanted in a person who will help her build and care for the family she dreamed of. She tells the story of choosing my dad as if it didn’t have an ounce of romance, but indeed, I suspect there was a bit of that too. She probably glosses over it for our sakes. But making the right choices in one’s love life, as anyone who has closed their eyes and dated “Mr. Wrong” knows, especially at a young age takes wisdom, maturity and tenacity.
But back to the star of this hair-attive, dad. As the child who most reflected mom in body and spirit, I rarely sit down to consider how much I get from my dad. Though I’m not the natural heir to his dad jokes, I do like to think I am close to his cheesy level at this point. He also trained me well in the art of deep thinking on a wide variety of topics. I can also see myself slowly beginning to chop off people’s head’s when filming videos and forgetting where I’m pointing. Very reminiscent of many childhood home movies.
The moment I feel him the most though is when I sit back and soak in the joy and peace of seeing someone I love happy. I saw it so much growing up but never really understood it until now. He would sit in cars for hours, just giving us more time to play at events with our friends. He would sit back and let mom enjoy adventures he wasn’t keen to join in on because he could see how much joy it gave her. He showed up to every boring activity we were ever involved in, despite his long days of work. And he enjoyed it, in his own unique way. As someone who always wanted to jump in, be involved, hopefully be the center of attention, I didn’t get it.
But seeing my child create a whole world around himself, I’m starting to understand the man who has been watching me for decades. The peace and joy of watching someone else’s delight is pure bliss. The high of seeing the achievements of someone you love and have a vested interest in, hits a completely new corner of my heart. I hope we are all able to look back in our lives and see the shadow of someone smiling in our memories, enjoying our best moments.
Brown Bag Adventures 