trick or treat in March

First of all, today, I had a literal panic attack!  Doug is still home, sick in bed.  Very sick.  He'll be home six days now in bed, after attempting to work on Monday and realizing that it was not a good decision.  So, this afternoon, we were visiting during lunch when I noticed that ZJ had sent me a text a few hours earlier.  The text had this photo of her with short hair and a message that said, "I donated my hair for the cancer foundation!  Is it cute?"  I FREAKED!!! 

This was about twenty minutes before she would be walking in from school.  I texted her back, "This better be computer generated?"  She responded that it was not and some kid was going to be very happy.  I wrote back, "Some other kid's parents are NOT going to be very happy!  We'd just had a conversation last weekend about how kids should never cut or color their hair, get piercings or tattoos without parental consent because kids are not always wise enough to make some decisions at younger ages.  She had agreed totally.  So, WHAT THE HECK!?!?

I love ZJ's hair.  LOVE it!  LOVE LOVE LOVE it! No matter where we go, people comment about how beautiful her hair is.  I was dy.ing!  I was literally crying... out of disappointment, out of shock, out of anger that some adult would cut a minor's hair.  I called the school office and asked the secretary how they school could allow teenagers to make a decision like this without parental consent.  The secretary assured me that they would never allow such a thing.  She also assured me that there had not been any assembly or any other thing that would have promoted this.  I was nauseous.  I could not even finish my lunch.   Doug was heartbroken that she would make such a decision without so much as discussing it with us.  We have such an open relationship.  SO disappointed!

A few minutes passed by and ZJ walked in.  Doug could see her at the front door and by his face, I could see relief.  I said, ZJ.  Come in here.  She came in with hair.  She said, "I was just joking. My friends noticed that with my ponytail, it looked like I had cut it.  We were talking and one said, "I wonder what your mom would say if you cut your hair that short."  So, they took the picture and thought that it was a very funny joke.  NOT!!!  We talked with her about it and told her that we had been shocked that she would do something like that without even discussing it with us.  (Not that there's anything wrong with donating your hair, we love that idea, but have you seen her hair!!?!?!?  It's BEAUTIFUL!!!!)  She felt so bad.  She could see that we were both so sad over it. It took a while for us to shake the upset.  We weren't angry, just still in shock!  After a bit, we were laughing about it.  And I teased her all night long about it.  I took this photo to send to Carol because I'd already called Carol crying!  Oh, that lovely head of hair.  (But NOT those not so lovely glasses!  Why do they wear them!?)

ZJ sat down at her laptop and wrote a cute FB message that said something like "Okay guys.  I learned a valuable lesson today.  Don't take jokes too far.  It can hurt people."  It was more than that and it was funny, but she only left it up a few minutes and deleted it. We love ZJ's hair!  I've posted this photo before, but seriously, why would you want to get rid of this?!?

After dinner and my Young Womens Presidency Meeting, I raced back home and hosted the YSA kids for a little ice cream social.  They have a week each month on the calendar when they all try to attend the temple.  Then on Thursday night, they gather at the Bishopric's home for a short message and treats.  It was our turn to host.  Poor Doug was in bed again.  We clorox wiped down everything before they came and he stayed wrapped in his blankets in our bedroom the entire night.  He was sad to miss out on the fun.  The kids just love him and really missed not having him there.  They stayed until about 9:30 and we had a great evening together.  I love these kids!  LOVE them!  They are fabulous and dedicated to all that they are doing in their lives.  We can't get enough of them!  I will hate to see this calling come to an end.

Tomorrow, we have literally nothing on our calendar.  Spring Break begins!  We had talked about going to St. George, but decided that the rest of the world will be going there, so we don't want to fight the traffic or crowds, even if it means not seeing Liza and her family.  We can go anytime and not deal with the rest of the state being there too!  We also talked about going to the ranch but that won't be happening either. We're going to just stay home for now.  And that's perfectly fine with us!  We'll staycation at home!  It works for me!  Life is good!