THE GIFT OF LOVE

About ten years ago my grandchildren were busy playing in their room. Nic was eight and his sister Scout was five. Things suddenly got quiet, very quiet. Now if you are a parent you know this can’t be good. Rambunctious kids are loud and rarely quiet. Things happen when children are left in the care of their father. Later when my daughter, Heather, got back home, what she found was troubling at best as well as frightening.

It seems the kids had decided that Scout needed a haircut. She even decided she would pay her brother twenty-five cents for the job. Nic, ever the helpful one, jumped at the chance to earn the quarter. He became the beautician. He grabbed his scissors and cut her hair. All of her hair. When the dust settled Scout had a very boyish look. You can imagine what she looked like after an eight year old decided to shear her locks.

Heather immediately scooped her up and took her to her best friend, Cindy, who happened to be a world class beautician. Cindy began the process of attempting to make a presentable hairdo out of the mess. It worked. She had a sort of pixie like cut which just made her even cuter to her grandpa. I loved the look.

Well Scout didn’t. She lived with it for a while but decided in the end that she would let her hair grow forever. She kept that promise to herself until today.

Over the Christmas season Scout began to think of gifts, both the receiving of gifts and the giving of gifts. She did some research and discovered there were many young girls who, because of medical conditions as well as cancer treatments, had no hair and couldn’t grow hair. She came to another decision. She decided she would cut her hair and donate it to Wigs for Kids.

Her gift was a tress of hair that measured about two feet in length, naturally curly, and a beautiful honey brown color. We hope and trust that it will be put to good use creating wigs for young ladies who have suffered the loss of their natural hair.

I’m telling you this because I am so proud of this young lady. She, of course, will be as cute as ever if not cuter. But her heart is and will always be beautiful. She loved her long hair. She wore it in many ways. She would sometimes feel sophisticated and wear it up in a stylish “French Curl.” Sometimes she would just allow herself to be a young girl and put in a pony tail. In all these years I have never seen her hair in need of attention. Even as she loved the hair, she decided to gift it to others who were not so fortunate to grow their own. That is truly a gift of love.

I understand as her grandpa I might be a little prejudiced but I have every reason to be. She is smart, gorgeous, and headed for a bright future. She plans to attend the Naval Academy and make the Navy a career. She has been home schooled and has passed her ACT with flying colors.

Both she and her brother are headed in the right direction with a complete understanding of the value of a gift and the value of love. In fact Nic insisted that he be present when Scout had her hair cut for the donation and he filmed the entire event. As for me, I guess as grandpa I’ll just continue to be amazed, oh and I’ll  continue to brag.

Ron Scarbro

P.S. I just learned that Scout has set up a fundraising site to help transform her donated hair into wigs.  For more information visit her site at "Help Me Help Kids"  event page. http://wigsforkidsday.donordrive.com/campaign/EmilysHair.  Thank you.