Who's Old Now?

I looked at my father a little over a week ago and realised that not only is he bald (he's been bald a long time) but he is now quite grey. Before I knew it words had left my mouth and were not so welcome. For his b'day he received red hairspray (not from me) to cover his grey hair and he wore it proudly. He was told stories of a friend of a friend who'd dropped dead the day after he turned 50. He laughed it all off, saying he had 6 more days 'til his actual b'day.

The night before his b'day a celebratory dinner was being cooked and a couple from down the road were invited. As my father sat at the table waiting for his guests and his dinner he let out a sudden scream of pain, slid off his chair and landed on the floor clutching his leg. My sisters fired questions at him to find out what was wrong and were told he had a cramp. While my 16yr old sister burst into laughter, my (only slightly) more considerate 18yr old sister grabbed Dad's foot and bent it back and forwards to try to relieve the pain. Dad's loud moans of pain continued, the cramp was in his thigh and not his foot. My thoughtful sister also considered this a good time to remind Dad (a smoker of 40yrs) that he should give up smoking as she's seen the ads about gangrene in the feet of smokers. Dad's thoughts, meanwhile, were of the friend of a friend who dropped dead, deciding he was about to go two days early. !6yr old continued with her uncontrollable laughter and as all this happened the guests walked in the door.

I was told all of this over the phone when I called on Dad's b'day to see how 50 felt. I had pains in my stomach from laughing by the time he decided I was as bad as 16yr old and handed the phone over to her.

Karma can be a bitch.

Today as I stood in front of the mirror, brushing my hair and considering a haircut, my heart skipped a beat. I leant in a little closer (I even thought of going to get my glasses). I segregated one hair with my fingertips and tugged. I looked at it from root to tip, my jaw dropped. It was grey! Horrified I looked back into the mirror, leaning in close separating my hair slowly. I found two more! That's when I decided to stop looking.

For a few minutes I was fascinated by the strand of hair I held in my fingers. Twisting it and pulling it. Ive never looked so closely at a single strand, it was so white, appearing almost clear. It came from MY head.

I'm only 27 for fuck's sake!