The Mom of an American

For about ten years I had the same lady cut my hair every two or three weeks. She wouldn't move to Miami though, so I have to find someone else. I found a place I can walk to here in the downtown area, and the guy does a pretty good job. I am happy with it, but the problem is he charges to much. Its an upscale barber shop, so its not his fault, but I have to move on, as much as I get my hair cut, I can't be spending 25 bucks every time.

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Yesterday I found another little place and asked the lady how much? Ten Bucks? even if I tip the lady a five spot, that's only fifteen bucks. This is how much a cut should cost and I am thinking SOLID! The lady that told me the price was like the receptionist and retail cashier. (its also a hair products store and a nail place.) She takes me back to the hair cutting chair and introduces me to Lilliana. Lilliana says "Hello" and I start telling her how I want it done. I soon realize this is someone else that doesn't speak English, other then the word hello. She has that down so well that it actually fooled me for a second.

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So in my mind I am trying to think of all the ramifications. The biggest one is that when this is all over, I have some kind of freak looking head? It's not to late to walk away, but I feel that would be kind of rude. I think about going back to the receptionist lady who is clearly bilingual and seeing if she will translate. but then I look in the mirror and figure this isn't Fabio's locks. Its just me, and basically I get a flat top that is rounded on the edges instead of block looking, and its not quite a flat top, its just really short. So I decide to go with the flow. I will grunt, use my body language skills and speak to her in English, only with kind of a Spanish accent, plus I will emphasize key words, saying them in a different tone. That should work. This is my plan, and plus I know that word Gracias, and Seguro, a few others as well so I should be ok . Nothing this lady does will be permanent anyways, and yes she could mess it up pretty bad but I could just be "hat wearing bill" for a few weeks if it comes to it.

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Turns out Its a little shorter on the sides then I normally get, and its a little longer on the top, but overall I am fine with it and I don't even think it requires hat wearing Bill to make his presence known. Plus during this process I found out some things. She is Cuban and she got here by rowing a boat. She did that five years ago and now she has a 4 year old daughter who is American. I could see in her eyes and in her mannerisms how proud she is that her daughter is an American and when she pointed at the picture and clearly said the word AMERICAN, with that huge smile, I got it. I could also see how grateful she is to be here herself. You sometimes forget living this soft ass middle class existence that I do, how awesome this country really is until you risk getting your head butchered up and connect with someone like her. I am grateful she chose to come here and glad I didn't chicken out and walk away from that hair cutting chair when I found out she was a "no speaky".

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Thanks for the link Rick www.southfloridadailyblog.blogspot.com