Maui Fever: Day 4, A Spontaneous Hawaiian Haircut
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I woke up with a constellation of mosquito bites all along my right arm. When I was sleeping, I could only imagine the insects had a feeding frenzy on only half of my body. A party where little insect legs were swaying to and fro.
I was also feeling antsy (insect pun intended). A couple of days have already zoomed by and I felt like I was wasting time, even if technically, Hawaii is very specifically designed for you to waste time.
No one has anywhere particularly important to be. Everyone is wearing flip flops, slowly sloshing around with too much liquid in their bellies. The people who have been here forever (you know immediately who they are), have leathery tan skin.
I close my eyes and remember a woman with short, blonde hair at the airport looking SO effortless and SO sophisticated. Her haircut was the life I wanted to lead. Cool and unassuming, “Oh, this old thing?” kind of hair. As a 31 year old still trying to figure it out — that hair knew something and I wanted to know what.
Would it be hard to get a spontaneous haircut and dye job on an island?
It wasn’t hard, but it was very expensive. They added on all of these “treatments” I didn’t ask for, but I didn’t want to fight it. I really actually liked it.
The woman who did my hair had a body of a literal model. You know the type — extremely flat stomach. Perky breasts without a bra. Sleepy large eyes. When she was cutting my hair, her navel practically jabbed me in my eye. She moved to hawaii to be with her surfer boyfriend. She had a mermaid tattoo. She was, in a sense, Maui Incarnate, even if she was originally from New Jersey.
After the haircut, I wanted to take it for a test drive. Do “blondish” people have more fun? Or does my overweightness and boring clothes make it nearly impossible to tell a difference? Do I even care?
I take a walk along a boardwalk and watch fancy people do fancy things and I feel fancy free in short and bright hair. Along the walk I saw a mini church surrounded by all of these sprawling hotels. Can you find God in a Disneyland resort in Hawaii?
After my big walk, I decided to drive through McDonalds for dinner. Please don’t judge. I did a lot of mental overexertion today and the root of the problem, of all human problems, is that we are creatures of habit and yearn for familiarity.
But before I could pull into the familiar yellow-and-red parking lot to say hi to my drive thru pals, I rolled down the window to hear a crowd not only a block away. “Over here!” they seem to say. “Check THIS out!”
I follow my nose and realize that there was a neighborhood block party, filled to the rim with HAWAIIAN FOOD TRUCKS. Helloooo Nurse!
SO MANY PINK SHORTS.
On the way back with my food goods and a full heart, I came across a fabulous antique store.
Perhaps me putting my pinky toe into the universe opens up doors to things that are not on the agenda? Perhaps cracking the window of my brain to let some air in leads to discovery.
Did you miss Day 3?
Need to start from the beginning?
