More Hair

       As I was getting ready to move I found these pictures in the attic of me and mama. I remember this day, it was July 12th one of the hottest days of the summer and I wanted to go play outside with my friends but mama said I had to get my hair done first. She didn't want nobody talking bout us saying my hair looked "raggedy". I loved my mama but when she did my hair she was someone I couldn't stand. Even today I can still feel the bristles of the brush scrapping my forehead. 

"There ain't no hair on my forehead ma" I'd say every time and get ignored every time. 

I can smell the thick grease she'd put on a gallon at a time, could feel the bobo pop me in my scalp. 

"These braids too tight ma" I would cry but she wouldn't do em any looser. 

    Looking back I guess that's how her mama did it because that's exactly how I do it. My daughter says the same things I said then and I ignore her all the same, just as my ma did. I knew she was finished when she'd collect all the hair from the comb and say "more hair" . I never understood that phrase but I knew it meant I was free at last. 

     I wish I would have appreciated those moments more. Wish I would have been a little less anxious and a little more patient. But that's the thing with humans, we don't see things until they go into hiding and we don't appreciate things until they're no longer around.