Mary's first ponytail

In an effort to help our family get to church on time (I'm always running late), Greg decided to do Mary's hair on Sunday morning. He managed to get it into a ponytail, and he was very proud of himself (and I was too!). But, I'll be honest, it looked terrible--and to those of you who have seen the disheveled mess that Mary's hair usually is, let me tell you that this was ten times worse. The ponytail wasn't quite in the back--it was more on the side. So soon half of her hair had fallen out, so it looked more like one messy pigtail, with the rest of her hair hanging in her face. It was pretty bad. But it was so sweet that Greg had made the effort!

This presented me with a dilemma. Do I redo her hair and be late to church, possibly hurting my dear husband's feelings as well? Or do I get to church on time, with a daughter whose hair is a total wreck? This is not the park or the library or the grocery store. This is church--the ultimate showcase of a mother's hair-do-ing ability, where little girls have perfect parts (Do you know how hard that is??), cute curls, and intricate braids. I wouldn't say that Mary's hair ever looks particularly good for church (unfortunately, hair is no talent of mine), but I make an effort to maintain some level of respectability.

So what did I do? Well, we arrived to church on time. But I did stick a comb in my bag, and twenty minutes into the meeting, I snuck out with Mary to the mother's lounge . . . and Mary returned with two little pigtails and a crooked part.

(See Mary's first pigtails here.)