A Hair-Raising Prospect!

My eldest daughter has very long hair, 60cm long to be precise.  It hasn't been cut for 3 years; apart from the few centimeters I trim off the ends once or twice a year, and my daughter wouldn't have it any other way!  As you can imagine it's a bit of a project to care for, 7 year olds are not particular adept at the art of hair brushing and as for hair washing, well the less said about that the better.  My husband, a very fit and intelligent man, is not a natural hairdresser, I mean why would he be, he's been bald for years?  So here we have the tip of the ice berg when it comes to the little hurdles parents have to jump before they can escape even just for a night away, let alone 2 weeks...

"Put your hat in the ring" said my husband.  I'm not sure he was convinced I stood a chance of winning an Adventure Queens Grant so he could afford to be generous with his encouragement. I mean really who’s going to have the bigger challenge if I go away for a couple of weeks hiking, me or him? He’s going to have deal with two little girls and working full time. It’s not as if we have local relatives to help out either, so if he were reluctant for me to go I would understand. "Just put your hat in the ring and see what happens".  So I did.  Last minute lill here, hurriedly completed the Adventure Queens (AQ) Grant application form on the 31st December 2019.  Deadline day!  With Mummy guilt piling up a treat; trying not to get ratty with my kids as they vied for my attention, the application subsequently took longer than intended to complete as I tried to cram into a few paragraphs what it was that I wanted to achieve and why.  I needed to convey to them that I had a long held dream to complete the Wainwright's Coast to Coast walk.  The plan is to do some wild camping and take in some lake swimming.  All new to me.  My plan was modest, or should I say is modest, in comparison to the regular wild antics of many of the more experienced members on the AQ Facebook page.  Actually one could feel slightly intimidated by their bravado if you didn't know better that they are just everyday women, seeking to push the boundaries of their comfort zones. Which of course, is exactly what I intend to do it’s just that everyone’s jumping off points vary when it comes to boundary testing.  I want to escape my first world problems just for a bit, so I can put them all into perspective and come back a better, Mum, wife, daughter, sister, nurse, artist and friend.  I also want to see how well this 1st world women deals with surviving and navigating alone.  I am a proper numpty with an OS map!  Mind you, let's face I won't really be alone with all the electronic gadgets I will have with me!  Perhaps the real challenge is turning them off.

As it happened the Adventure Queen judges obviously gleaned something from the gibberish that I cobbled together because on the 14th February, just a week after turning 45, I took a call from Emma Frampton, "Happy Valentines Day" said Emma, "Congratulations you are one of our AQ grant winners!"  My eldest (N.o 1) and her long hair, over heard this conversation as she was off school with a nasty bug, the type of bug that covers the floor of the reception area of the local gym where I take her for swimming lessons.  Messy.  Poor kid.  It was the type of bug that covered her arms, hair and a large portion of her shoes and school uniform. With my youngest (N.o 2) already in her swimming lesson I had had time to get N.o 1, dripping like the Witches rescuers in "Room on the Broom" (Donalson. J) when they come out of the swamp, into the shower.  Seriously, if your going to vomit copiously in public, doing it somewhere with a shower and efficient carpet cleaning equipment which someone else is going to have to use, is a superb choice.  Well done N.o 1. Anyway, I washed her and the precious hair with plenty of conditioner and she was dressed, warm and cosy before N.o 2 splashed her way out out of pool.  What an afternoon that was.  But as I said before, never mind how I'm going to learn to navigate my way across the 190 miles from St Bees to Robin Hoods Bay, how on earth am I going to teach a bald man to look after 60 cm of hair on a 7 year old's head.  Since over hearing my conversation with Emma, it's starting to dawn on N.o 1 that the hair may well be her responsibility.  Perhaps no bad thing, as she will be nearly 8 by then after all.