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For those of you who don't know, one of my immediate responses to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
monshu's death was to have all my hair cut off[*]. It was something I'd decided I'd do over a year ago and never told anyone about it. I was tempted to do it right after they took his body away, but that seemed melodramatic, so I waited for the morning of our trip to the funeral home in case I needed to hand over my locks then. (They were burned with him.)
People's reactions have been interesting to say the least. My aunt asked me if he loved my long hair and when I told her, "No, he never cared for it," she (drunkenly) called me a "sick bastard". At work, the Dean surmised immediately what my motivation was. Others have been foggier. It's been amusing to see how long it's taken some people it even register the change. Many are quick to add, "It looks good," and it can be hard to gauge their sincerity. Not so with one of my coworkers who can hardly stop talking about how much better she likes my hair short.
One unexpected benefit is that I know immediately from their reaction whether I've seen someone face-to-face since the Old Man died or not, which helps me prepare myself for either breaking the news or receiving their sympathy or both. Yesterday a coworker from the fifth floor said, "I'd heard about the hair, but I hadn't seen you yet." And then, "I don't really have the words." "Whatever words you have are fine," I told him--and meant it. It's become painfully apparent to me how tongue-tied this makes a lot of people. Everyone's afraid of "saying the wrong thing", but they correctly assume that saying nothing would be worse.
I'll admit to being sick of hearing some phrases in particular. (Who came up with "sorry for your loss" anyway? I'm not out some book value on my investments; my fucking husband died on me. He's not ever coming back.) But I try to "listen past" them and hear the underlying intention. And as long as that's sincere (and there's only one person so far whose sincerity I doubt enough not to want any condolences from them), it doesn't matter much how they express themselves.
[*] If you've never met me in person: I hadn't had a proper haircut since 1987, only trims.
monshu's death was to have all my hair cut off[*]. It was something I'd decided I'd do over a year ago and never told anyone about it. I was tempted to do it right after they took his body away, but that seemed melodramatic, so I waited for the morning of our trip to the funeral home in case I needed to hand over my locks then. (They were burned with him.)People's reactions have been interesting to say the least. My aunt asked me if he loved my long hair and when I told her, "No, he never cared for it," she (drunkenly) called me a "sick bastard". At work, the Dean surmised immediately what my motivation was. Others have been foggier. It's been amusing to see how long it's taken some people it even register the change. Many are quick to add, "It looks good," and it can be hard to gauge their sincerity. Not so with one of my coworkers who can hardly stop talking about how much better she likes my hair short.
One unexpected benefit is that I know immediately from their reaction whether I've seen someone face-to-face since the Old Man died or not, which helps me prepare myself for either breaking the news or receiving their sympathy or both. Yesterday a coworker from the fifth floor said, "I'd heard about the hair, but I hadn't seen you yet." And then, "I don't really have the words." "Whatever words you have are fine," I told him--and meant it. It's become painfully apparent to me how tongue-tied this makes a lot of people. Everyone's afraid of "saying the wrong thing", but they correctly assume that saying nothing would be worse.
I'll admit to being sick of hearing some phrases in particular. (Who came up with "sorry for your loss" anyway? I'm not out some book value on my investments; my fucking husband died on me. He's not ever coming back.) But I try to "listen past" them and hear the underlying intention. And as long as that's sincere (and there's only one person so far whose sincerity I doubt enough not to want any condolences from them), it doesn't matter much how they express themselves.
[*] If you've never met me in person: I hadn't had a proper haircut since 1987, only trims.
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