Doing the (Good) Deed

Well, the deed is done. 

My brave, beautiful little girl did an amazing and selfless thing on Saturday.  And I think she honestly understood and felt good about it.  I'd been talking to her about it for some time beforehand, letting her know that she was going to get her hair cut so she could send her hair to a little girl that didn't have any hair.

This is a child who had never, ever sat in a salon chair.

This is a child who had only ever had her hair cut once, 3 inches cut off by me, in the comfort of our own living room, several months ago.

So we honestly didn't know what to expect.

And she surprised the heck out of us.

After near-derailment by a screaming baby (seriously, the kid was way too young to be getting his hair cut in a salon - he was a baby for crying out loud!) and some quick-thinking by me to tell her the baby was crying because he was hungry, she accepted the explanation, climbed into the chair, made herself comfortable, and enjoyed watching the action from through the mirror.

Careful measurements were made, and we agreed on the amount to be cut.

(the baby and his family are in the background - he'd finally stopped screaming by this time...)

The only resistance came at the thought of having to put on the big black cape. 

(And Sammi is not holding a pack of Camel Lights in the photo below.) 

A few snips, and voila!

We held our breaths, waiting for her to close her mouth, loving this prolonged moment of...something. 

Would she cry?  Would she laugh?

Would she just sit there like that forever?

The moment dragged on...

...and she smiled.

And we sighed (loudly) with relief.

A little bit of water from a spray bottle, and a little trim...

And the result was stunning.

By the way, those bangs were not actually bangs.  Samantha has been twisting and twisting her hair lately, forceably ripping her hair clips out, breaking what was once as long as the rest.  They needed a little snip to clean up the resulting devastation. 

11 inches of beautiful hair, ready to be packed up and mailed out to Locks of Love, a very worthy charity that makes wigs for financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.  

The princess and the lollipop. 

Hey, even Rapunzel cut her hair at the end of the movie.  I guess this means I can still keep one of her nicknames. 

On Sunday night, late to bed after Easter dinner at my parents' lake house, I told Sammi that in lieu of a book before bed, I'd get in bed and tell her a story.  I told her the story of the beautiful Princess Samantha, sweet, kind, selfless, loved by all, who came across a little girl who was sad because she didn't have any hair but wanted to feel beautiful.  Princess Samantha realized that she had more than enough hair to go around, and cut off some of her locks to give to the little girl.  The little girl was so happy that she felt beautiful again, and thanked Princess Samantha for sharing.

Lying in the dark, Samantha's face barely visible by night-light, I saw her smile and close her eyes. 

"Thank you, Mommy.  Good story."