You Have A Wondeful Life

You have a wonderful life, you know that, right

     - Ward Stroud

My hairdresser and I do not have light conversations The first time I went to Ward's salon my hair was the longest it had been since I had breast cancer ten years ago. Now it was the requisite 10 inches to become a wig for someone else undergoing chemotherapy. I sat in front of the mirror, plastic drape across my shoulders, and Ward gathered my hair, entwined his fingers in it, and let it fall this way and that through his hands, and across his wrists, combing it with his fingers. Then he gathered it all in a thick pony tail, and cut it off with one clip of the scissors. For a flash, the head that looked back at me from the salon mirror was bald from chemo. Ward placed his hands on either side of my head, little thatches of hair sticking out between his fingers. He leaned his cheek next to my ear, and whispered, You are very beautiful. And we both cried a little.

During a recent visit, he stopped in the middle of trimming my bangs, and whipped his phone out of his pocket. Want to see something really cool? He danced from foot to foot. He played a video of a bright yellow Frisbee soaring through the air, then gliding down into a chain basket as if placed there by hand. Ward's voice was in the background of the video, whooping and yelling with pure joy. I got a hole-in-one, he beamed. I think that's the coolest thing I've ever done. He pocketed his phone and turned his attention back to my hair. What's the coolest thing you've every done? He asked. I shut my eyes as little flecks of straw-dry hair fell into my eyelashes. I had to think; there have been some pretty cool things. I blew bits of hair out of my mouth. Pufts of air. Of course!

Well, I began, My boyfriend and I were flying to dinner recently...

Ward held up his hand. Wait – did you say you were flying to dinner? How do you fly to dinner?

In our little plane, I replied, fumbling in my purse for my phone. I showed him a picture of our shiny, silver RV-7A, with its large, black tail numbers, N174RT.

Ward studied the picture. Wow, that is so cool!

Yes, it is. Roy built it, I said proudly. As I was saying, we were flying to dinner, but it was early and the sky was so clear and beautiful....

So, where do you fly to, he interrupted again, and how do you get to a restaurant once you get to wherever you are going?

Most of the time we go places where there is a restaurant at the airport or close by. Sometimes airports have courtesy cars we borrow, but most of the time we walk. That evening, we were going to Albany for dinner. There is a great chinese restaurant there.

Ward shook his head. Wow, you just fly to dinner. That is very cool. He turned the chair so I faced the mirror started snipping away at the back of my head, shaking his head in amazement. Yep, that is pretty awesome..

But that’s not the best part, I continued. One evening last week we took off from Hillboro. There was Mount St. Helens was right in front of us, like huge, upside down vanilla ice cream cone. We had some extra time, so we decided to fly around the mountain.

All hair cutting activity stopped. Warded turned the chair so I was facing him, and sat down on a black rolling stool in front of me. He rested his forearms on his knees. You flew around the mountain, he repeated, making sure he'd heard correctly.

Yep, I nodded, we flew around the mountain. It is so pale and peaceful on the south side, especially when its covered with snow, but when you peek around the north side, there is sheer devastation. The crater drops away, and it looks like a dragon chewed the top of the mountain off, then clawed out the sides. A trail of rubble spills out of its side, and tumbles down in to the valley.

I paused for a moment, remembering shards of sunset reflecting off the wing of the plane, as we rounded the remnants of the peak. There was no background sound to capture the joy of seeing the sunset light up the rim of the crater and the peaks beyond. Even in the plane that evening, Roy and I shared it with the reflection of light in our eyes,and the warmth of his hand in mine. 

That really is amazing, Ward said, bringing me back to the salon.

The best part of it is the inside of the crater, I continued. The mountain is still active. You'd think with all the devastation it would be quiet...defeated. But its not. I counted at least five steam vents, and there is a huge bump in the middle of the crater that is growing. The mountain is rebuilding itself.

Ward reached out and fluffed my hair with his fingers.. He turned the chair and held up a mirror so I could see the back of my head. That happens to people, too, he said softly. In the aftermath of devastation, we can rebuild ourselves. He smiled down at me. Look at your hair. Do you like it? I ruffled my fingers in it and smiled. Yes, I said. It's amazing.

Ward looked down at me. You have a wonderful life, you know that, right? I nodded, and we both smiled and cried just a little.