Last month I was thinking about my dear friend. She’s pretty much my mentor. You may not know this about me but I am a hairstylist. Grady and I got married while I was in beauty school. Shortly after getting my license in California I started working at the Greenhouse Spa and Salon. Originally it was called Moon Gate. I remember the first time I met Carol. They told me she was the busiest stylist in the salon. I was coming on as an assistant, her assistant for most days. And I was totally surprised when I met her. She was shorter than I imagined her. And she had the biggest smile and she was so welcoming. I guess I was imagining someone more intimidating, someone who would take forever to really learn my name.
And I starting working for her and managing her clients so she could run on schedule. Every 30 minutes she would have 1 or 2 clients that I would need to prep so she could work her magic. And I still love watching her cut hair. It’s relaxing to me. Sometimes I even know what she is going to do next. Back when I was 19 and working for her I was hustling trying to make sure I was doing a great job. We used computers but we also had daily print outs of who was coming in that day.
One morning a client named Barbra came in for a color. I told her she was early but I would be glad to take her. I think I had only been working month or so. I took her to our color room to apply her hair color. I had been mixing and applying color for Carol for quite some time. After I completed that task I went to check on things. One of the main jobs as an assistant is to anticipate your stylist’s and their client’s needs. Watching and learning was always important, but housekeeping was required as well.
I was on the computer making sure everything was going well. We were ahead of schedule. Then I saw something that made my stomach drop. “Barbra Smith” had called that day and rescheduled to come in hours earlier just for a color. We had another Barbra on our books as well. And I was pretty sure I just applied Barbra Jones color to Barbra Smith’s head. I approached the color client to confirm her last name and to my horror it was the wrong Barbra. When I mentioned she came in earlier, I was thinking an hour earlier. She was thinking 4 hours earlier.
Now I had to walk over to Carol, who was busy cutting another client, and tell her what I did wrong. She was going to be so upset! I was sure she would yell at me. And let’s face it. I deserved it. I made a huge mistake!!! The color was luckily in the same color line, and it wasn’t drastically different, that I am sure I would have noticed. It was such a hard thing to approach her. At least I had the good sense to speak with her privately so her hair cut client wouldn’t hear about my failure.
I took her back to the computer and showed her my mistake. She looked at me and said, “I think we learned something today.” I nodded eagerly. She approached Barbra and took her over to the sink and let her know we had a mix up. She had me wash her hair while she mixed up the correct color. Her client was so nice and understanding. Most of Carol’s clients are as sweet and easy going as she is. I applied her correct color and the day went on.
I have never forgotten how kind and merciful she was to me. It would have been easy to make me feel small. She could have embarrassed me in front of my co-workers or her clients. She could have asked not to have me work for her or treated me coldly. But she didn’t. She instead used it as a teaching moment. That is the kind of person she is. She is kind and thoughtful. She is positive and encouraging. And she is humble and forgiving. She has taught me so much about hair, how to treat your clients, and our industry. She is truly a talented artist in our industry. But more that that she was taught me to be kind and generous. As her birthday was last month I was thinking about how much she has blessed my life.
A couple of Saturdays ago I was working in the office, editing some pictures, when Yoda came in sobbing. He is defiantly my most tender hearted child. And I can’t get frustrated at him for crying because I am pretty sure he gets it from me. I scooped him into my arms and tried to comfort him. Was he hurt? Was he sad? What happened? Then my husband came in and said, “Did you tell Mom what you did?”. He wouldn’t. He just kept crying.
I was like, “Someone please tell me!” So Grady filled me in.Yoda was mad at Dad. So he decided to take a marker and draw an angry person on my favorite chair in the world. My beautiful chair and a half that my other salon co worker, Wayne, gave to me. Probably the most beautiful piece of furniture that I own. It’s gorgeous and yellow, a favorite color of mine. And all the kids know this is Mom’s favorite chair.
I knew I had a choice. Yoda was already so crushed. I scooped him up again and said, “Let’s fix it together.”. I could have swore it had a zipper but I couldn’t find it. So I grabbed my stain spray and a brush and I started scrubbing this chair. Because I knew it required chemicals I opted to do it myself, but he had to watch. I took that time to tell him about the Atonement. That when we sin, we fall short before God and it’s like we have a mark on us. But when we turn to our Savior we can repent and be made clean. Just like this cushion. And isn’t that wonderful news? We can be made clean at baptism and all our sins can be washed away. And when we take the sacrament we can remember the covenants we made at baptism and we can repent and be made clean again. He wanted to know, “Is that why we remember Jesus?”
I am so glad I was able to see what was really important at that moment: teaching my son. As parents we can look for ways to teach our children about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can relate life to principals of the gospel. Now I wish I could tell you the stain came out right then. I ended up finding the zipper, probably when I wasn’t so stressed, and I was able to soak it. And luckily after being washed it came out. I was able to tell him some sins take a little longer to work out. But all can be made clean with our Savior Jesus Christ.
I am so thankful for my dear friend who set a good example to me. A friend who showed mercy and took time to teach me instead of cutting me down. Let us all try to be a little more patient and forgiving. Let us try to show some compassion and remember that we are all beggars. I know I still get upset and raise my voice but I am trying to parent with a purpose. I love these pictures of my sweet son Yoda sitting on my favorite chair. My favorite photographer took these pictures at Yoda’s newborn shoot. He is laying on the same chair 5 years later he would scribble on when he was upset. I hope he remember that lesson on mercy. And why we need a Savior and what He has done for us. Because teaching my son about our Redeemer is so much more important than a chair. Even a really beautiful chair.
