Frances

A Monarch butterfly wrapped entirely in wisdom, spiritual growth, and transformation.

A decades-long client, Jim, asked me if I would consider taking his 94-year-old mother, Francis, as a new client. Her hairdresser for many years was retiring, and I was certain at her age, she had her hair “done” on the same day and at the same time every week. Since I can still “recollect” how to set, tease, and finish a hairstyle, I thought, why not? I pictured her with blond, over-permed hair, a tad disheveled from sleeping on it for a week without any attempt at maintaining it. That was the world for millions of women who came to the salon for their weekly “do” in the 60s. When the 70s came, bringing with it the precision no set hairstyle, I left the world of weekly clients behind and headed straight into the emerging world of La Coupe. 

              She arrived by herself in a brand-new Lincoln Continental. I took an immediate liking to her and her old-world Italian heritage. The minute she stepped inside, I loved her warmth and “sunny” attitude. She had no problem navigating while holding onto her purse and cane. I sat her in my chair, and after a brief consultation, she was ready to accept my suggestions for her new hairstyle. When I finished, I hoped she loved what I had done for her. I knew she did when she stood at the desk to pay and said, “Ok, can you put me down every Friday at 11 o’clock?” Words that were music to my ears. I just proved that a seasoned “hair cutter” could’ maintain the expertise to create a conventional 50s coiffure.

               The best part was learning about her professional career, which included 50 years as a teacher of  English, Latin, and Spanish, followed by a successful career in real estate. Yet there was so much more. Since the five weeks I have come to know her, my life has been deeply enriched, reminiscing about the good old days of once-a-week clients. When I helped her to her car last week, she said, “From my neck down, I’m a little wobbly, but the neck up, I’ve still got it.” I knew exactly what she meant! Since then, I have visited her lovely home, and she agreed to help me edit a new manuscript along with my weekly posts and other documents that require the expertise of a professional. As I sat talking to her in her kitchen, I realized that even though our ages weren’t that far apart, I was in the presence of a woman who reminded me of the undeniable role a woman plays in the complexity, evolving identity, and essence of womanhood.

The Beauty Of A Woman

Is in the poems, she writes 

The dreams she weaves 

And all the stories untold

In the adventures she has taken

The lives she touched

And all the minds she awakened

In the caring she gives

The sincerity of her laughter

And the passion in her grief

For it’s not the expensive clothes or the diamonds she wore

Nor the treasures that come and go

But the beauty of her reflective soul

Blessings, my dear friend Francis,