carrot tops

Being a redhead is part of my identity. My whole life, strangers would stop me and comment on my hair. And when we were children, when Tyler and I were together, people couldn't get enough of our hair. Tyler's being wispy and fine and mine being thick and curly. Until Tyler cut it off, but that is another story for another day. Sometimes I feel like my hair defines me. I blame my mother mainly, because whenever we did something good or bad she would say, "I can't wait for the day when your redheads ________. Like the color of our hair determined our actions. My hair color made me feel rare and beautiful. When I threatened to color it my mom would remind me that people color their hair to get it to look like mine. Do you see what I mean with the mothers and the pressure they put on us young redheads?

Being redheaded has its drawbacks however. It's usually paired with an almost blinding pasty pallor and a healthy sprinkling of freckles. Notice how in the picture I added my skin is the exact color of my wedding gown. It also comes saddled with a lifetime of questions like, "Is this your natural hair color?" and when you answer yes, you get slapped with a suspicious "Really?" It also means I cannot wear green. I don't know why. My mother says it washes me out, makes me look too Irish. And makeup is hard to wear. I don't like wearing black mascara with my fair colored lashes and eyebrows, but the brown is too dull. Since my red hair is ridiculously thick, in the days before the flat iron, I was screwed. I wore it up every single day for about 5 years.

And Lord help me, I hauled off and married a redhead. I was on my 3rd date with my future husband and I made some stereotypical comment about redheads having hot tempers and Nick says, "We sure do." I snapped my head around to look closely at his head and sure enough, peeking under his Jets hat was thick gorgeous auburn hair. Which I had never noticed until that night. Being observant was never my strength. To my credit, he ALWAYS wore a hat. Now that his hair is longer and even more luxurious, he goes without a hat more often and someone, usually Tyler, Sandy, or myself comments on his "Kennedy Hair." The best part of being married to another redhead, is that it gives me great hope that someday I will have Nick's redheaded children and people will envy them their hair. Check out the picture above and try to tell me we won't make some beautiful haired babies.

All of this musing spawned from this website that Nick found. I was initially thrilled to look through it, but after awhile it made me feel less special and less rare so I stopped. But feel free all you brunettes, blondes and silver foxes, browse away.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite scenes from my favorite John Wayne movie, The Quiet Man (but you have to imagine the dialogue in a thick Irish brogue. Promise? Okay here it is.)

Michaeleen Flynn: Forget it, Sean, forget it. Put it out of your mind.
Sean Thorton: Why? What´s the matter? She isn´t married or anything?
Michaeleen Flynn: Married? That one? Not likely. And her with her freckles and her temper. Oh, that red head of hers is no lie.

Or you can watch it here on youtube. The part you're looking for is around 3:00 minutes. Be sure to take time to watch the whole thing!