Published: August 05, 2008 09:21 pm            

JOHN CANNON: Best things in life are free 080608

When my wife and I are traveling, we usually listen to books on CDs while my wife crochets and I drive. Over the years she has made literally hundreds of potholders, dish cloths and other items while riding shotgun as I drove. (When she drives, I sleep.)

While driving through Indiana on the way home from our recent trip to Nebraska, my wife ran out of yarn. Such an emergency required that we find the nearest Wal-Mart, the only store in which she has been able to find the type of yarn she uses. Fortunately, in America. you never seem to be too far from a Wal-Mart.

She asked the waitress at the restaurant where we had stopped to dine where the nearest Wal-Mart was and learned that there was one at the next exit. After dinner, I dropped my wife off in front of the store and told her I would pick her up there when she came out. Without really parking, I intended to find a place to pull to the curb and read while she purchased the yarn.

However, I was able to find a parking place close to the front of the store. So instead of waiting for her to come out of the store, I parked and went inside. My intention was to sit on a bench reading my book until she had made her purchases.

However, as I was sitting down on the bench, I spotted another activity that was far more interesting than what I was reading and well worth going into the store. Right next to the bench was a hair salon where a young child of about 2 was getting what I surmised to be his first haircut.

He was seated on his father's lap, and from the looks of Dad, he had just received a haircut. Maybe that was to give his son confidence that getting a haircut is really no big deal.

To his credit, the young boy was not crying. However he also was far from sitting patiently while he had his ears lowered. The young hairstylist would attempt to cut a strand of hair, but before she could get in the proper position to snip, the young boy would duck. She would move one way and he would move the other. He would move his head to the left and to the right and up and down while the stylist vainly attempted to trim his locks. With all that bobbing, it was impossible for her to use the clippers.

The stylist was young and quite attractive, and while her beauty may have helped Dad to remain still during his haircut, it was having no impact on the young child. Two-year-old boys tend to be unimpressed by physical beauty.

Despite all the toddler’s efforts to avoid getting shorn, the hairstylist was doing a remarkable job. If there were an Olympic competition for haircutting under extreme conditions, she may have qualified for a gold medal.

The toddler never sat still, but the hairstylist never became frustrated. She remained calm throughout this milestone in a young boy's life.

The Wal-Mart was quite busy on this Sunday afternoon. As I watched the action in the hair salon, there must have been dozens of other people in the store shopping. While I am certain they saw many things of interest, I can guarantee that none was as interesting as what I observed. And the best thing is it didn’t cost me a dime. The best things in life really are free.

I have no idea who the hairstylist, the little boy and his father were. In fact, I'm not even sure where the Wal-Mart was. It was just somewhere in Indiana right off of Interstate 74. However, I think that trio of strangers for giving me an entertaining and totally unexpected vacation memory.

I can't even remember the first haircuts of my children. That tells me that they must have been rather uneventful. But I don't think I'll ever forget that artful little dodger in Indiana. He did his best to keep all of his hair, but thanks to a patient hairstylist, he failed.

JOHN CANNON can be reached at jcannon@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2649.

        

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