Fulfillment!

  Yesterday was haircut day for me – no simple matter when vanity causes us to drive to Seattle and back for my appointment with Elizabeth, my hair guru. But, try as I might, in the eighteen years I’ve been going to her, I’ve never found a suitable replacement who is closer to home.
     For one day every six or eight weeks, Elizabeth causes my looks to match my self-image!  Straight hair!  She has a way of cutting and styling, fluffing and brushing that gives me the perfect “do.”  It’s not my only nod to vanity, but it’s probably the most foolish.  Even so, until I can remove my head and use her techniques on myself, I will continue to go back.
     We usually take advantage of the trip to do any ‘big city errands’ that have piled up and while he waits for me, Nyel inevitably pokes around the Goodwill on Dearborn Avenue.  Then we meet a friend for lunch or, sometimes, even spend the night – especially if that errand list is long.
     Nyel drives and I keep him amused.  We buy an Oregonian and do the crossword.  Yesterday we took the hot-off-the-press Observer with us and I read some of the articles aloud.  I didn’t get really far along.  I had to stop after reading the article on the Boys and Girls Club, I was ‘that mad.’
     It was the statement “And we do some heavy lifting for the school – we provide things they can’t provide: physical education, agility, cooking classes, wellness, arts and crafts, help with homework” that set me off.
     I know that Ocean Beach School District no longer provides traditional Home Economics classes that included cooking and sewing – but P.E.?  Agility?  Arts and Crafts?  Get a grip!  When was the last time that particular spokesperson spent any time in our schools?  That statement is just plain false.  (And actually, I know a number of elementary teachers who do a bit of classroom cooking now and then, too.)
     I heard those same claims made over the radio in a KMUN interview a year or so ago.  Then, as now, I was irritated that the Boys and Girls Club feels they have to say that they can provide what the schools don’t.  I thought the point was to provide what parents can’t – a place to be after school with all kinds of activities that might or might not be part of a kid’s normal school day.  To puff themselves up by telling untruths about the schools is just plain wrong.
     And, then as now, my reaction is so negative that I am unwilling to support the Boys and Girls Club.  I will continue put my efforts toward our schools, instead.