I remember grooming my dad....
Dad would turn on the television for Hockey Night in Canada. He'd stretch out on the floor on his stomach, his chin on his arms, to watch the game. My sister and I would run for the curlers, a glass of water, and a comb. Whichever girl got there first got to sit on Dad's massive back. As long as we weren't too noisy, we could sit there and put curlers in his hair for the whole game!
Dip the comb in the water. Comb up a piece of hair. Put the curler at the tip and roll down to the root. Insert bobby pin. Enjoy the smell of Brylcreem wafting up from Dad's hair. Repeat.
My dad's hair wasn't long, but it was very thick, and we could use dozens of curlers before we had to take them out and start again. I saw nothing strange in this activity. I thought all girls put curlers in their fathers' hair while they watched hockey. I realize now that this wasn't so, and my respect for my father is immense.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I fried my brain in the 80's with drugs and alcohol, and am now attempting to bring memories to the surface and record them for posterity.
About Me
- Paula
- Three Hills, Alberta, Canada
- I am an artist. I am an actor. I am a musician. I am a dancer. I am a lover. I am a writer. I am not very good at any of these things yet, but I continue to do them. Why let mediocrity stop me? The things I'm good at, like rage and laziness, I'd rather stop practicing anyway.
Other Blogs I Like
Labels
- 80's (51)
- alcohol (12)
- bands (22)
- Banff (1)
- burns (2)
- Carol (5)
- cars (4)
- childhood (39)
- Christmas (5)
- cigarettes (3)
- coffee (2)
- cousins (1)
- Dad (13)
- dance (7)
- dates (2)
- death (6)
- depression (13)
- dogs (2)
- Don (2)
- door-to-door sales (3)
- drama (2)
- dreams (2)
- drinking (15)
- driving (4)
- drugs (6)
- dust devils (1)
- Earl (3)
- Expo 86 (3)
- faith (7)
- fear (10)
- forgiveness (1)
- Gene Kiniski (1)
- God (7)
- golf (1)
- Grandma (1)
- grief (2)
- guilt (5)
- high school (8)
- hockey (1)
- humiliation (13)
- Johnny Depp (1)
- Junior High (11)
- Larry Norman (1)
- love (4)
- LSD (3)
- Luv Affair (1)
- marijuana (6)
- Mom (24)
- mosh pit (2)
- movies (2)
- Mr. Janz (2)
- parties (6)
- pinball (1)
- playing (9)
- puking (3)
- punk rock (11)
- radio (8)
- rock and roll (13)
- rollerskating (2)
- sex (4)
- shoes (3)
- smoking (1)
- tattoo (2)
- the Commodore (4)
- TWU (7)
- warehouse (4)
5 comments:
Paula;
This triggered a long lost memory of me watching my grandfather shaving....your words evoked such rich imagery of the smell of his soap in the cup - the texture of the little hair brush he used to make a lather, and the funny expressions he made while moving his face to prepare for the razor.
LOVE your honesty and openness as you share these slices of your life experience. I have so many holes in my head in regards to my own memories, like a box of slides that got dumped and are now all out of order, with some forever damaged or lost. Many times your words have triggered some long missing glimpse of a cobweb idea that then suddenly blooms out into full memory. Priceless!
Keep them words a coming!
Although I don't remember actually doing that with my dad..the whole scene seems very familiar, like I could have if I'd thought of it. Hockey night in Canada was my favorite night of the week for some reason. My dad always sat in a big easy chair and I mostly just curled up in his lap and listened to his heart beating, and tried to match my breathing to his. Saturday night was "bath night" and when we'd had our bath and were in our jammies, then dad would pop popcorn in this handy little shaker thing over the fire. Mmmm...smokey popcorn....
I used to style my dads hair. Didn't use curlers but I had this whole kid styling set that I would use on him. Not much hair to style, but it was sure fun trying to do something with it. From the sound of it, I'd say your dad probably enjoyed his hockey night experiences with his daughters as much as ya'll did....
Sounds like what we used to do with my Grandpa's hair when we were little... he would always keep a comb in his pocket for just such an occasion, and sometimes we would get out the hair clippies... Ah yes, age 8... those were some good times.
What a fun memory for all of you.
Post a Comment