Zaterdag Ochtend naar de Kapper

What habits do you have that your kids will remember you for? Careful, they will remember.

Saturday morning to the hairdresser. 

We went to the hairdresser this morning. I go on a regular basis: at least twice a year … if someone forces me. My mother-in-law goes every Saturday morning. 8 o’clock. Every week. For the past 40 years. No, really, I just asked.

She said it started when she worked in the chicken hatchery and moved around chicks all morning during the week. All of the dust and feathers and gunk got in her hair so she treated herself to a weekly pleasure: the hairdresser every Saturday morning. Then she just kept it up. Now if she doesn’t show up on a Saturday, they wonder if something’s wrong or know she’s away for the weekend. The stylist who did my hair this morning knows as much about my life (and that of my kids) as … I do.

I even talked with the stylist about my mother-in-law coming every single week. She giggled and said it was sweet. They chat about anything and everything. They get caught up on the week. I asked, aloud, what I do every week. Hmm, I don’t know if I have traditions like that. Trader Joe’s? Karate with my son?

If you didn’t show up somewhere, would someone notice?

I used to make fun of such things. Such repetition, no adventure, no changing up the routine. But there’s something to it. She outlasted the last owner of the salon and when he retired she wasn’t sure what she was going to do, how she was going to adapt. He wasn’t either.

Am I just too young for such traditions? When do you start such things? Do you consciously decide to start a tradition or do you keep doing something and notice it’s become what you do. It’s partly who you are.

Elke week het zelfde. Is dat saai of traditie? [Barneveld, Holland]