Pin curls

*A post from the summer Hodgepodge archives – to warm and encourage here in the middle of winter.

It all happened in about 20 minutes. The after-supper sky was darkening. Time to clean up and do baths.

One rinsed dishes while I helped four through the shower like an assembly line. This time of day can be a wearying one for parents. Folks are tired. Really, one child should already be in bed because of a missed nap.

But a girl with freshly washed hair comes to me with bobby pins. “Will you make curls, Mama?” She holds the handful of pins out to me. Eyebrows, expectant, way up high on her forehead. I think of all that still needs to be done. I pause. And I say…

“Yes… They will be so pretty in the morning.”

I find the brush and part off pieces to roll.

We chat about how my Mama used to roll my hair on big rollers some Saturday nights before church. They were hard to sleep in but I loved the results.

I twist the golden.

Then I roll her hair tightly over my finger and secure with a bobby pin or two.

She holds the pins, ready to hand them as needed. “Look what I made, Mama.”

A little, bobby pin cross cradled in her hand. I smile and appreciate. Saying yes was the right answer.

There was even time to trim sister’s hair and Buddy’s nails.

And to run out and soak in the sunset.

So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith. Galatians 6:9 (The Message)

-Tricia homeschools five children from preschool to middle school, mixing up a classical and Charlotte Mason style. You can find her facing that daily dose of chaos at Hodgepodge. She contributes a mixture of writing for The Curriculum Choice, $5 Dinners, Passionate Purposeful Parenting and is a.k.a. Hodgepodgemom.