Arianna's Hair

Arianna is obsessed with long hair. Every year I used to cut it short in the fall, but a few years ago she asked me to stop cutting it and let her grow it long.  I was sad to see the cute bob go, but she was older, so I let her do it:)  Several months ago, I realized there was going to be no end to how long she wanted it!  Every time I cut off even a couple inches to clean up the ends, she was sad.  Around that time, someone suggested that maybe she should grow her hair out and donate it.  I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to teach her a few things.  Like letting go of something important to you for the good of others!  So, we started talking about it.  Her hair is super long and its hard for a nine year old to take care of it properly and I informed her that even if she didn't donate it, she had to have a limit on how long it could go:)  We had a few talks about how she would feel if she lost all her hair to cancer and how she could help someone else feel better when they were going through a difficult time in their lives.  She got excited about the idea and asked if we could just wait until it would still be at her shoulders when we cut it.  Today was the day!  You can see here how long her hair was!

I could tell she couldn't decide if she was embarrassed or pleased at all the pictures:)

Right before the big cut!  At this point the hairdresser asked if I was going to cry and I said no.  But I was very proud of her and almost welled up a little:)  If you know Arianna well, you know that it was hard for her to give up her hair, but she was determined to at this point!  She was also pretty focused on the fact that I was giving in and letting her have side bangs like the rest of her friends who are ages 14-18:)  She didn't say too much today, but smiled the whole time and said that it made her feel good to donate her hair.

Isn't she adorable?!  I may be biased, but I think she's a pretty cool kid.