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HomeMy WebLinkAboutQuarantine Haircuts and a Scary World Quarantine Haircuts and a Scary World Hello, I have been sitting here at home for more than a month now watching, reading and listening to what the TFPD is doing. I couldn’t be prouder of our department or more confident that the boat is sailing in the right direction. Keep rowing!! I really miss sitting in my office and listening to the conversations the officers have in the report room and of course coming out an telling a story or two…or 3. I don’t know if Lt. Garner knows he is supposed to do that. Let me know if I need to remind him…. So, I have a story but it ties in to an important message so please read. Last week Gloria and I agreed that we would buy a set of clippers and she would learn how to cut my hair via YouTube videos… The clippers showed up yesterday so Gloria will begin training this morning as I have scheduled a cut at 1300 hours. This got me thinking back to the days when my mom cut the families hair. I have a dad and 4 brothers so she really didn’t have to learn a lot of style techniques….you sat on a chair in the kitchen and she used a pair of green clippers that we got at the Army/Navy Surplus store. They were louder than our lawnmower… my mom also had found a hair cutting tool called a Whisk… it was a comb with a razor blade inside it…used for quick clean-up jobs or late-night haircuts where our clippers would keep the neighbors awake…we would see it advertised on TV (1970’s infomercial style). If you need a quick visual think a boxcutter between two combs. nd Summer 1970…I had just finished 2 grade at Berylwood Elementary in Simi Valley Ca…My teacher and first crush Miss Siani had become Mrs. Meyer and told us that she was stepping down to teach half-day Kindergarten so she could start a family….fortunately there was baseball to fill the void in my heart. In 1970 you couldn’t play little league until you were 8. You played with other 8- year olds. There was no Tee to hit from and coaches didn’t get to lob the ball up so it was easy to hit. You signed up, they gave you a team hat and shirt (3/4 sleeve in team color with team name on front and sponsor logo below and number on back). I was on the Senators (most of you know them as the Texas Rangers but in 1970 they were the Washington Senators) I got a navy blue cap with a white ‘S’ on the front and red sleeves with ‘Senators’ and number ‘8’ in blue print and an ‘Aim High USAF’ logo on the front (the local recruiting office was our sponsor and the recruiter was one of our coaches). We were really good and won all of our games…our only close game was the last one…it was a late June showdown between the Senators and the hated Yankees (sorry Matt and Craig) the Yankees had the best player in the league, Chris T… I can only assume that there was some sort of birth certificate snafu at the registration table on try out day…Chris looked a bit older than ocho anos. He threw way harder than any kid in the league but you could only pitch one game a week and we had somehow never had to hit off of him… So, the big game had a 5:30 start time at the Susanna Knolls LL Field (the baseball scenes from the movie Benchwarmers was filmed on that field) I waited in the driveway with 4 or 5 teammates waiting for my dad to get home from work. About 5 o’clock he pulled up into the driveway in our Pontiac and told us to load up while he ran in and grabbed his hat and Coach Wilson shirt…regrettably my father also wore grey sweatpants…the ones he got at San Diego State in the late 1950’s…he had cut them off below the knee to make some really cool Mormon shorts…this was in 1970…they didn’t even start doing that in prison until the late 80’s…anyway he was back in the car and we made it to the field in time to warm up… The game was close and in the bottom of the last inning I came to bat with one out. I had struck out both times previous and was just hoping to get some wood on a pitch (we actually swung wood bats). Coach Wilsons instructions were “you have 3 swings, use them”. I swung at the first pitch and hit a ground ball that st started 2 feet foul off of 1 base but then spun into fair territory and into the right field corner. I ran as fast as my tough skin jeans would let me (you didn’t get baseball pants until you were the next division) the Yankee in right-fielder was doing what most 8 year old right-fielders do when the pitcher on their team strikes everyone out, he was watching birds or using a popsicle stick to dig a hole with…I could hear Coach Wilson scream “RUN” so I did… as I rounded third I looked and saw that Chris T. had gone into short right field to get the ball. The play at the plate would be close… I need to backtrack here to add some context, in 1970 I had 2 baseball heroes. Hank Aaron and Pete Rose. I followed both players religiously through the LA Times sports page and as a non-power hitting white kid decided to model my style after Pete. And if anyone ever saw Pete slide you know it was full on head first dive every time…and this is what I decided to do. Chris T. threw to the plate but I dove in behind the catcher (who missed it anyway) and tapped the plate with my hand. I jumped up expecting Senator nation to swarm me at the plate and carry me off in triumph…but most the kids weren’t sure why the game was over and wanted another turn batting. My dad did say “good job” and we cleaned up the dugout so the next team could use it. Then we all lined up to get our team treat from the snack shack. I got my usual, green otter pop and a pack of baseball cards. After we got in the car I slurped down my Otter Pop and opened my cards. They came with a gross piece of bubble gum that tasted just like the cards which I immediately popped into my mouth. Then I saw it… the first card was Pete!! Actually, it was Pete and Roberto Clemente and Cleon Jones who were the top 3 hitters in the league in 1969…but I only saw Pete… After getting home we began unloading the car as neighborhood dads who were smoking outside on their own driveways after eating dinner came over to get the scoop. I stood on the driveway and told of my heroic slide while jumping up and down so the 16 ounces of batters’ box sand that went down the front of my pants would fall out… I guess that’s the chance you take when you do this…lol As the story wrapped up we were all invited to go swim for an hour at Tim’s house. Mom sent me into the garage to strip down and then upstairs to shower so I wouldn’t turn the pool brown… After a 38 second shower I was drying off when I saw some scissors on the counter. I gazed into my reflection in the mirror and knew in an instant what I must do… Pete Rose haircut. It looked pretty easy to me and I was confident that I would look like this… Well… it did not go as planned there were some bad angles, trying to fix them made it worse and 5 minutes later I was wearing my hat and swimming trunks and was out the door. Over the next hour every adult that saw me asked me if my parents had seen my haircut…when your hair is soaking wet and people still notice…not a good sign… I guess the calling tree was activated and when I got home mom met me at the door and grabbed my hat. She stepped back and said ”Kitchen… Now”. I went to the kitchen and sat on the haircut chair. Mom walked in with the Whisk. My brothers laughed and pointed from the living room while dad watched TV and encouraged their cruel behavior with comments only they could hear. Mom was not kind. She whittled away as best she could but I ended up with the ‘not a buzz job but still to short to comb’ look… but so what. It was summer and I wore a hat all the time anyway. So, after cleaning up I joined the family in the TV room where we watched a Wild Wild West episode before bed… The summer came and went and soon we were loading into the Pontiac to take our annual Labor Day weekend vacation to grandpa and grandma in Twin Falls. We left at like 0300 and pulled into TF about 1900. As usual gramma had a hot dinner waiting. She was old school deep south born and bred. Her Chicken and Dumplings were THE BEST. Nobody on earth has come close…ever…even this guy… “BAM”… not even close dude, sit down… Anyway… we sat down to pray and eat at the table which meant hat off…gramma noticed the haircut immediately…by this time it had grown into the refugee look…scraggly but not long on top but some strands over the top of the ear and collar... she looked at my mom and said “the boys are coming to town with me tomorrow” then we ate. The next day gramma took me and my brothers to town. She dropped me off at the barber on Main Ave North (my grandad was good friends with Terry the barber) Gramma then took my brothers to Ropers where she bought us all Wranglers and a western shirt to wear to the Fair/Rodeo… Now…this is why I’m telling this long story…I went in and sat on the bench to wait my turn. There were 3 or 4 men waiting. They were all talking about how crazy and dangerous the world had become…they were all really concerned…and these are older men who had probably fought in WW2… They spoke about the many acts of domestic terrorism that were occurring…bombs, fires, riots…the assassinations of MLK and RFK were still being discussed daily. Police officers were being murdered/assassinated at an alarming rate and America was heavily involved in a very unpopular war in Viet Nam. I sat and listened and pictured this situation in my 8-year-old head and for the first time ever in my life got worried…not scared worried. After my haircut my gramma took me back to the farm and I sat in the living room with my mom and dad who explained that yes, the world may seem crazy but they were looking out for me and there were still many more good guys than bad guys who would take care of the problems and everything would be ok… And it was. Not perfect but we continued to move forward as a country. And we have faced many crises since then including our current pandemic. And we’ll all get through this one too. It may cost us a bad haircut or two… except Hicks who has Jamie… but we’ll come out of this. We will be hurting and are obviously taking big hits every day as Americans and Idahoans but we will win. We always do. The big takeaway--- as first responders our work is crucial to the mental and physical well being of our community. I know this and you guys do to…but do not forget that you first responsibility is to your family. They need guidance, comfort and confidence that you can keep them all safe. Don’t forget to tell them how you feel as often as you can…reassure them often…little kids shouldn’t have to worry. Gloria and I think about our TFPD and City family ALL THE TIME. You are in our prayers. Be safe. Be professional and be compassionate. Respectfully---jkw John K. Wilson Lieutenant Patrol Division Twin Falls Police Department Cell:(208)731-7990 Ph:(208)735-7277 Fax:(208)735-0876 jwilson@tfid.org www.tfid.org