Shorn

"Long, beautiful, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen... I adore hair!" ~James Rado and Gerome Ragni, Hair

When Jacob was home for the Christmas holidays I sang a few notes from the famous song in Hair. "Give me a head with hair. Long beautiful hair. Shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen. Give me down to there hair. Shoulder length or longer. Here baby. There mama. Everywhere daddy, daddy - hair...." Jacob's last haircut happened in September 2009, when he had his head shaved as a part of freshman engineering orientation. By Christmastime, his hair was longer than mine.

Now hair length, I decided long ago, is a hill I never intend to die on. I don't like long hair on men but it is only hair. I made a deal with Jacob when he was in tenth grade that as long as he was in compliance with the rules at his private school, I wouldn't bug him about the length of his hair. When the powers that be told him he must cut his hair, he would comply. In exchange, he promised he would not do the two things I couldn't live with (not that he was likely to do them in any event). No tattoos. No face piercing. There were many times in his last two years of high school when the word was sent down - cut your hair or you can't come back to school next week. He always obliged. But of course, there are no such rules in university. He went along with the head shave in freshman year but he demonstrated no interest in any further hair cutting. His friends teased him rather mercilessly over the holidays, calling him Tarzan and Jacobetta. I saw photos of the girls French braiding his hair on New Year's Eve.

When I drove him back to school a couple of weeks ago, I very gently suggested that before he was summoned to any interviews for summer jobs, he might like to visit a barber. Hair can be styled and neat without being short. He was irritated by my suggestion.

This afternoon I drove to Guelph to take him out for lunch. He greeted me at the door with his hat and jacket on. It was absolutely frigid out. Imagine my surprise when we arrived at the restaurant and he removed his hat to reveal that his hair has been once again buzzed to about a half inch in length. Don't misunderstand me. He looks fantastic - all blue eyes and chiseled features. But I am frankly mystified by his seeming inability to find a compromise between hippie and soldier. Too funny.