Picture Day Haircut

This story goes back to October of 2022, picture day, in fact. A little backstory before that day I hadn’t gotten a haircut in about a year up to that point. When I started working at the preschool earlier that year there my hair was pretty long and the kids or even my coworkers had never seen it any different. My hair was a bit of a novelty for a few of the kids as they had never seen hair like mine before. I got a curious question from one of the kids, Kayden, who asked me: “is your hair puffy because you’re tall?” To which I responded, “no not really but thanks for thinking I’m tall”. He also really enjoyed touching my hair as well.  Another kid Daniel would say “I really like your hair Mr. Darren”. For me personally I really wasn’t too into haircuts the past few years because 1) I only have so much time with my hair so why would I want it short? and 2) My hats look way cooler with my hair sneaking out the back. You know the saying “a money and a fool will soon depart”? Well then, the same goes for hair and picture day. There is no greater tradition than getting a nice tidy haircut for picture day. That was true in my youth and even now as a twenty-something. Anyway, picture day is rolling around and I’m feeling like now is as good a time as any to get a haircut. I mean I can’t let the kids outshine me. Plus, it’s my first picture day as a teacher. I can’t roll in there looking like crap. So, the night before I get a haircut and the day of picture day I roll up in my nicest outfit and still wearing my signature beanie of course. Finally, it’s time for the major reveal like an episode of Maury and as we’re getting positioned for the class photo, I toss my beanie to the side and the reaction was priceless. Some kids did a double take, some laughed, some were speechless, and a couple screeched. Regardless, the reviews were in over the next few days. Jerm apparently told his mom “Mr. Darren got a haircut! It was beautiful”. Ava was practically dragging her mom to see my haircut. Kayden of course said I looked “handsome”. That haircut turned out to be the most recent one I had as of the writing of this story. I didn’t get one for the kids’ graduation back in June 2023. While taking a picture with a few of the graduates, however, one of the other teachers pointed out Kayden had his hands in my hair to which I chuckled at. I guess some things never change.