Black & Hot Pink Hair?

Right this moment my daughter Chelsea (who will be turning 15 tomorrow) is having her hair (re) dyed black and is having Hot Pink streaks added! Is this a good thing? She thinks so.

I gave up the "cheerleader dream" years ago... she's always had her own sense of style but to be honest, I thought it would be mellowing out some by now. Certainly by the time she hit high school (she just finished her freshman year), she would be tempted to conform ever so slightly to all the "normal" kids in her class. But low and behold... every day as I drove through the parking lot to pick her up, I learned that her attire IS pretty normal!

She wears jeans with holes in them of every size and shape... most made by her. She has paperclips hanging off her pants... and safety pins (that you would think would be helping close up some of the previously mentioned holes but they're rarely anywhere near them)... and duct tape... and MY brightly colored binder clips (I probably have a stack of paper laying somewhere that is no longer being held together). Then there are the drawings, signatures and ramblings of her and her friends that are colorfully displayed all over the jeans. I swear she'd be lost without her large selection of Sharpies!

Everything special and sentimental to her hangs lovingly on the walls of her bedroom. Let's see if I can recall some of them (I'm having to work from memory because I'm not brave enough to go in there often)... A Taco Bell drink carrier that holds some of her hair accessories (she LOVES Taco Bell, but come on! LOL)... a torn pair of pants from her buddy Tyler (who evidently doesn't care to wear ripped up clothes)... the plastic "thing" (like a lamp shade) that our dog Jake had to wear so he didn't itch his infected eye (huh?)... a big (and I mean BIG... like 3-4 feet tall) cardboard banana that a friend of hers wore for a school project... Letters and artwork her friends have given her (her friends mean THE WORLD to her)... a couple Real Estate signs, you know the ones added to a normal "For Sale" sign that tell if there's a pool etc. These 2 signs say "GORGEOUS INSIDE" and "BEAUTIFUL INSIDE & OUT". I couldn't get too upset with her for "borrowing" these signs because they're her way of saying, LOOK DEEPER THAN WHATS ON THE OUTSIDE... She has one of her Dad's paintings (her Dad passed away March 2005 and she still feels very connected to him)... and TONS of photographs. Many times I've offered to redecorate her room... paint... new wallpaper... shake it up a bit... but she has always said NO THANKS because her room is special to her just the way it was.

I guess it doesn't really matter what color her hair is. Chelsea is loving and passionate. She cares deeply for her friends, for my friends, for her family and even "down & out" people she happens to meet. She's bright and creative and mature beyond her years. If a part of her self expression is to have black & hot pink hair, I can handle that. (She'd love a pierced lip or eyebrow but I do have my limits!). I love her very much just the ways she is and I would never trade her for the cheerleader type! How boring would that be?