My friend and colleague Billy recently cut his hair quite short, shorter than anybody's seen it in the last 8 or 9 years. He has Shawnee Indian heritage (he actually used to be chief in his tribe, or rather, his band of his tribe), so in his early adulthood, he grew his hair out long, and it's always been one of his trademarks. Here's a shot of him from last year, looking very Native:
Last summer, Billy's mom went home to be with Jesus, and he cut his hair about mid-length in a Shawnee tradition of mourning. It definitely took all of us a while to get used to, but it could still be considered long hair, and he still looked like the Billy we had known for years. This year, for reasons not fully known to me, he decided to cut it even further, and made the full transition from a 'long-hair' to a true 'short-hair.' I'm almost used to it by now, but it really is a striking difference.Well, I had gotten to see him over iChat with the new 'do, and then I saw him a little when he came back to Wilmington (where I am this summer) to rejoin us at the Leadership Training (LT) program. My and his good friends Jamie and Jenna, who are down here in the program with us, hadn't yet seen Billy but had only heard about his hair. Last Saturday, we and some friends who were visiting from WV went out to eat at the Little Dipper (Sarah's favorite restaurant - a great fondue place in historic downtown Wilmington), and Billy met us there. I had forgotten that the girls hadn't seen him yet, so when he passed us outside (we were already seated, and beside a window), Jamie and Jenna about flipped out. So I got my camera out, knowing I could catch some good sincere reactions, and when he came to our table I took these:
Anyway, I love sincere moments like these. It really is odd to see Billy this way, but of course I know he's the same old friend. (He says it's interesting to see some differences in how people who don't know him as well act around him as opposed to how they might have if he still had long hair...)Here's the new Billy (I like think he looks more like his dad now - in a good way!):
