Grey Day

I decided that my plan for the day was going to be to do some outside maintenance around the house, get a haircut, clean my apartment, run, have a barbeque and then go out on a date. Pretty good plan and a pretty productive surprise day off.

I clean outside, and then rewarded myself with a couple of sudokus. My sister then asked me if I could give her a ride to her doctor's appointment. I said okay, and then jumped in the shower at some cereal and peach yogurt, and a granny smith apple and then headed out with her.

I drove downtown and then after I dropped her off I decided to get my hair cut. I suppose that I didn't really need a haircut, but I wanted to get one before Saturday. I'm going to a wedding on Saturday and thought that it would make sense to grab a cut on my day off. I drove over to Jack's and parked on a sidestreet.

I sat in the car for a couple of minutes trying to decide if I was actually going to get out and get a haircut. I wasn't desperate for one like I usually am, and I was debating bailing on it. I was trying to figure out when my last one was. I knew that I had blogged about it being somewhat disappointing, but I couldn't pinpoint the day. I considered calling Andrew and asking him to check it out on my blog, but I thought that that would be too nutty.

As I was looking in the mirror and breaking my brain trying to remember I noticed that I had a grey hair. It was a great big one right at the front. It was more white than grey. It was quite distressing. I've never noticed a grey hair before, but this one was so grotesque and so obvious that I began to wonder how many more there are that are hiding in less conspicuous places. I thought about how my sister has had grey hair since she was 17 and if I would have to start getting my hair dyed like her. I thought about how I would look in five years, and if my hair would be salted with grey or even all grey, and how much older I will look.

It was a frightening development, and a little depressing. Crows feet, laugh lines, and now grey hair. Pretty soon I'll be one of those old guys running around the city. I'll be a fart who sweeps his sidewalk 4 times a day and waters his rhododendrons with the hose just after sunrise, and at again dusk. I'll yell at kids skateboarding in the street, and be overprotective of my garbage bins. This grey hair is opening doors of curmudgeonry that I thought wouldn't open for many years. Oh, Pandora! Now I can be an old grump shaking my greyed head at the state of the world and those blasted kids.

I'm going out for my run while my joints are still good, I'm having a barbeque before my cholesterol gets too high, and things better go well on this date tonight, or I might not have another chance. It might already be too late!