my hair is now 2.5 feet shorter!!!
Ohhh, ahhhh, the hair is gone... now on to the story.
jedibubbles, alariya, eviltwin (who actually got called eviltwin in order to specify which Kristen), Rebecca, and elya all came to watch and encourage. We ate lots of pizza first, and (except for Rebecca and elya) drank beer (I took a pregnancy test earlier that was negative). Del was right, smirnoff triple black does taste like sprite on crack, I LOVE it! Then we played Loaded Questions and Wise and Otherwise while Del did the tedious job of braiding 2.5 feet of hair into 21 braids.
When she has finally finished, everyone gathered around to watch the snipping of the braids -- and my freakout after the ponytail was taken out and my hair was SHORT! for the first time in many years (the shortest it's ever been cut). I was just in shock, it felt so weird! It was like having a limb amputated, except a lot less painful and crippling. Then Del evened up the cut, while I still hadn't seen myself in a mirror, and then they all followed me into the bathroom, while I put my hands over my eyes. When they all could see me in the mirror, I looked at myself -- and saw my little brother and sister in my face! I was really upset by that, but then I played with it some and discovered that I only looked like them when my hair was parted down the center. No more of that! *shudder*
Then I showered all of the cut hairs off (it was an odd but very nice change to not have a ton of weight pulling at my head), and rejoined them in the living room. Alariya, eviltwin and I went outside and smoked flavored cigars (strawberry, yum) and then we came in and all sang worship songs.
The group worked so well together! And elya has gotten much less phobic about alcohol and stuff, so we didn't have to tiptoe around her, so it was lighthearted fun the whole evening. We're thinking about doing a weekly Bible study, the five of us (sadly Del can't come 'cause she'll be in FL). I love my girls. At the beginning of the evening they were all sitting on the couch and floor and I was on the swivel chair, and it made me so happy just to look at all of them. Somebody made a comment about 'the queen and her court' which kinda embarrassed me but I loved it all the same. Some people that I would have loved to have there were missing... but it was wonderful that they all knew each other and were comfortable around each other.