This afternoon I zoomed over the Golden Gate Bridge super psyched for my 2PM Marin hair appointment. Five months between haircuts is an anomaly for me, and I was in full anticipation of a different style (other than baggy all over) and feeling like a renewed woman. After parking, donning my mask, and activating the meter, I excitedly walked to the half-opened door of the salon only to be told by another stylist that mine had gone home because Gavin Newsom issued a new mandate to close salons. Utterly stunned, I checked my phone and read the text message from my stylist 19 minutes prior saying “So sorry, I cannot do your hair, just found out, and it’s immediate.” Hmm, a text message notification while en route. What happened to a phone call? Immediate? Really? I sat in my vehicle looking at the 3 open stores (2 clothing and one optic) flanking the closed salon and observing the irony as, in the optic store, a customer was a foot away from the salesperson presenting and adjusting glasses. It took me a while to process my multitude of feelings including dismay, disappointment, and anger at the messy state of affairs, nonsensical directives, and not getting my hair taken care of. For the entire shelter-in-place, I’ve been at greater risk in Whole Foods and other stores deemed “essential” then I would be at a 2 stylist salon. I acknowledged what I was feeling and experiencing, reminded myself the importance of resilience, adapting and changing to curtail the stress, and that, regardless of restrictions, I am free and still have the power to choose how to respond.
When I got home, I checked the internet and the quote in one news outlet was, “We are moving back into a ‘modification mode’ of our original stay-at-home order,” said Newsom. “This is a new statewide action, effective today.” Could she have kept my appointment and cut my hair? With less than 20 minutes to go, I believe so as he said today and not immediately which, by the way, would have been unreasonable. Fear is so predominant and prevalent now. Maybe that was in play along with wanting to do the right thing to be safe. And, maybe also in play was divine guidance and protection. Still, it remains a mystery when I will actually get a professional cut.
