Warning, things are messy for me.
I stare at my daughter’s tangled hair as I try to figure out the best course of action to slowly and gently undo all the the knots in her curls. Curls so gorgeous that I am constantly catching myself gazing in wonder at her perfect head, her perfect million-shades-of-spun-gold, and wondering where she got those genes.
But, the knots, oh they are so fierce and they hide beneath, where I don’t see them unless I am looking. And every time I use the bristles of my brush to coax loose an entwined strand, I hear a little gasp and a squeak, “You’re hurting me, Mama!”
I know, baby. I know the tangles hurt. And I know that it doesn’t matter how gently hands are applied to this task, it will cause pain. But if you want your hair to be free of the knots, to be healthy and free-flowing, you have to work through the pain. And if I don’t brush through them often, the snarls grow so big they overtake the beauty of your hair.
Because if you ignore the messy hair and you pretend it isn’t messy and you go through your days ignoring those continually-knottier-knots, it will be so far beyond painful for you. So I need to work at these coils and snarls. I need to undo them and comb through every section.
And so I do. I finger, separate, comb, brush, split, and work through until it’s soft once more. Glowing gold and flowing silk.
And, eventually, these tangles in my soul will follow suit.