Eye of the Beholder

I'm sure you are all familiar with how beautiful my children are. Most of you know that James has had long hair for quite some time now, and he is sooooo beautiful. And I love it. And, most importantly, he loves it. Here he is looking lovely with long hair:


But what he does not love is washing and brushing it. I'm pretty sure this trait was inherited from his father, as Ben is also not a big fan of washing in general. (Love you, honey!) So every summer we get a summertime haircut which allows us to be relatively clean and also to check for ticks without a comb. Here he is now:



Now, I want to show you another picture. But first I want to tell you a story and 2 facts. The first fact is that I love my husband and think he is fantastic and wonderful, a great father, and an all-around awesome human being. The second is that sometimes, we do not see eye-to-eye or quite understand each other's point of view. We *almost* communicate.

And thus the story. See, when I was a kid, and I would get a haircut, we would always take pictures of how beautiful my long hair was before the big cut happened. We would brush it out and take pictures of me with my gloriously long hair in the sunshine, and so on and so forth. So, because I have this history and because I have a beautiful boy who looks amazing with long hair, I wanted to take pictures before we cut it.

I told Ben this--well, only the part about wanting to take pictures before cutting, so we could remember how beautiful it was--which, by the way, we have done all of this before.

So, the day before the cut was scheduled, we washed James' hair with extra loving care, and in my mind I was anticipating the pictures, hoping they would capture his amazing beauty.

Ben, however, had a more....factual? evidentiary? less nostalgic? viewpoint. Apparently he thought I just wanted proof that the boy's hair was in fact long, regardless of its condition.

So the morning of the cut, while I slept in because it was one of those rare golden moments when I get to sleep in....the boys went out in the garden. It was a hot, sweaty day, and soon my son was covered in dirt and sweat. He was also a little tired out by the time he came in. This is all normal and natural and as it should be.

However.

When two people haven't communicated quite as clearly as they thought they had....sometimes you get pictures like this:


Not quite what I had in mind.

Good for a laugh, though, right?

Right.

(Also of note: another time, while I was sleeping in, Ben went ahead and cut James' hair with no warning whatsoever. I have no objection to the cutting, but it makes him look so much older when it's cut, I want a little time to adjust! So really, this is all just a plot to get me not to sleep in, right? That's what I thought.)

(Okay, not really. I still love you, honey!)