lady grey.

I have found my first grey hair.

It should be noted that I have actually found many grey hairs in the past. I've found whole clusters of them. But those hairs were not on my head, and therefore not worthy of worrying or writing about. This grey hair was on my head, stealthily stuck in among all the innocent little brown hairs.

I am twenty-three years old and more than a little traumatized.

The worst thing about this grey hair, besides the fact that it is on my head and not someone else's, is the fact that it is long. My hair is fairly long, almost long enough for me to go around topless without really showing anything - not that I measure my hair in terms of how much of my breasts it covers up. I've got some layers in there, plus some semi-bangs around my face, so I've got a wide variety of lengths. This little grey hair was one of the longest hairs in the bunch. That means it has been there, being all grey for a long time. That means that I really had my first grey hair when I was maybe twenty-one.

I did not pluck it out. It was so awfully long and strong-looking that I couldn't bear to just rip it out. Now I can't find it anymore, though, because I have a lot of brown hairs. It's no surprise that since its existence eluded me for two years, it's able to hide again amongst the hairs that look like they belong on the head of a twenty-three-year-old. Or maybe all the nice brown hairs found it and forcefully threw it out, crying, "She's too young and vibrant! Go away, you hideous and premature sign of aging!"

I called my mother, expecting sympathy. No, she laughed and said, "You know, your Aunt Rita was completely white-headed by the time she was twenty-nine."

I think that is the meanest thing anyone's ever said to me.

And now I fully expect to be like poor Aunt Rita. I've got these mental images of myself at my wedding, my hair blending in with my dress - I won't even need a veil if I just wear my bangs long and in my face. Pretty soon after that, my hair will thin out and I'll have to get one of those old lady perms and I'll never get to go around topless. I'll go around with my kids and people will think I'm their great-great-grandmother. That's all assuming I even get married, since now I'll have to find someone who will want to marry me based on my personality.

I've never really been all that impressed with my natural hair color. It is brown. Like my eye color and like my blood-type, I've managed to be saddled with the kind that most everyone else has. Brunettes reportedly don't have as much fun nor are we seen as fiesty, though we do have the small consolation of winning all the blond jokes. My hair has some nice highlights in the sun, but nothing that can't be beat by highlights in a bottle. But now I think that it is surely the most beautiful color that ever graced a head. I beg of my hair to stay brown, it can even get mousier if it wants, just as long as it doesn't look like the mice that are bred solely to be fed to large reptiles.