Life's Firsts... Well, the other day I experienced a first. Actually there were four of us who experienced this moment. Okay, it was my first time seeing a grandchild of mine get his first haircut. For my grandson, Clay Randall Vess (now 10 months old), this was a big deal. His mom (Zuni) was all emotional. His dad (Josh) handled it like any dad would (not nearly as emotional as mom). To the rest of the world, this is not exactly an earth shattering event (like the birth of a grandchild), but in our privileged birthright as folks living in the USA, it is. I believe that it's things like this, and the significance that we place on these events helps keep families close. I'm not trying to be Mr. goody goody. I don't have a perfect family. In fact, I don't know of anyone who didn't come from a dysfunctional family, but we can keep striving to be not only better people to our families, but perhaps better people to our neighbors, and to society in general. Getting back to Clay, he handled the haircut pretty good. My daughter messaged me the night before so I would know. I said, that I'd be there, camera in hand, ready to capture the moment. We initially went to a local barber shop, but they were packed out and it would probably be a 2 hour wait. Zuni (doing what moms do) took the lead and directed all four of us to Sports Clips in Livingston (Yes, moms do that. They'll take the lead. That's just the way it is). The place was pretty full, but they had more personnel on hand and were able to move things more quickly. We had a seat. In about 40 minutes it was Clay's turn. Zuni had a seat in the chair, and held Clay while the stylist (Stephanie) put drapes on both her and Clay. Stephanie was amazing to say the least. She was patient, she smiled the entire time, and showed that she was genuinely concerned with giving Clay the best haircut possible. She actually enjoyed the event as if she was one of the family. At first, Clay seemed okay, but about halfway through, it got a little rocky. But with mom's calming presence and Stephanie's amazing touch, Clay seemed to calm down, and at one point actually fell asleep as his hair was being cut. When all was said and done, Clay looked like a new man (well, baby). Actually, he looked alot more boyish. Thank you Stephanie with Sports Clips. You did an amazing job. I'm not going to lie, this was kinda emotional for me. Before I shook Stephanie's hand and told her she did a good job, I had to get a grip on myself. There will be lots of firsts in life that are yet to come for Clay, for his mom and dad, and his grandparents. For Clay there's his first tooth, first steps, first day of school, first crush, first heart break, I could on and on. Throughout our lives the firsts just keep coming. Often times these firsts aren't so happy and can be scary, that's when the closeness of family will often carry us through these events. In the end, we should take more time for family, they will need us and we will need them. Admittedly, I'm a work in progress. I need to take my place at the front of the line and try harder to be a better dad, brother, son, friend, husband, etc. Way to go, Clay! Ya handled it well and ya look good to! I guess your first birthday is up next! I better get busy and start cleaning up around here!
For Clay, this was a big moment in his very young life.
I'm the goofy gringo taking pictures.
Manager Stephanie was nothing short of awesome.
Things began to get a little rough for Clay...
Dad helped calm Clay with a sippy.
A whole new Clay began to take shape (even the guy on the TV screen seems impressed).
Clay began to get the hang of this and began to realize that this wasn't such a scary ordeal after all.
I think he even started to like the attention from Stephanie.
The support of a family gets us through scary times.
Clay looks like a Bubba Baby (Mom looks proud).
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