Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Do you think you should do that?

I think I was ten years old, riding double, on the back of my best friend's bike, when I thought it would be a good idea to cover his eyes.

"Do you think you should do that?" Bob (probably) asked since he was steering the bike.

We were just cresting a small hill by the Methodist Church near Round Meadow Elementary School.  Bob with his eyes covered missed the path on the down slope, we hit a tree, then hit the steep side of the hill and then hit the street. Bob broke his front tooth,  bad. I thought it was a good idea at the time, two friends on a bike being daredevils.

When his parents asked me why I thought it was a good idea I told them I was checking to see if Bob had a radar sense. The second time I tested his radar sense we crashed and Bob ruptured his spleen against the upturned handle bars.


"Do you think you should do that?" My dad asked me as I set out to change the spark plugs on my  1976 Ford Granada. I was 19 and it was my first car. I don't think he asked me because he thought I could not do it. I think he asked me because he knew that I could not do it.

"How difficult could it be?" I replied. "I don't have the money for a real tune up." I thought it was a good idea at the time, saving money and learning about cars.

It took me 6 hours, a phone call to get the car towed and something like $200 dollars for the mechanic to fix my mistakes.

"Do you think you should do that?" is a rhetorical question that my wife asks me from time to time.  "Do you think you should do that, putting that red shirt in with the whites?" "Do you think you should do that, feeding the boys Skittles and Slurpees right before bed?" "Do you think you should do that, drinking all that vodka, you have an early morning?"

The other day I thought it was a good idea to try to cut the kids' hair. We have clippers, why not use them right? How difficult could it be? I would save us money, time and aggravation.


Lauren came out onto the porch in mid cut and asked "Do you think you should do that?"

It was too late.

His hair, or lack there of, is not as bad as this picture shows.

Besides he is incredibly handsome no matter how foolish his father is.

14 comments:

Paula said...

The only difference in my case was my son asked me to cut/clip his hair. (He was about 14 at the time). Fortunately his hair grows fast.

Melissa said...

my baby...my sweet sweet boy! look what you have done to him! LOL

it's only hair, it will grow.

when is Lauren going to let you trim her hair for her?

Daddy's in Charge? said...

My mom always used to cut my hair... Until it was socially unacceptable to do so. Thank god she stopped. I will NEVER cut my kids hair.

Angela said...

LOL, at least it's summertime. My husband did this to my 3 year old in JANUARY.

Anonymous said...

high and tight

Anonymous said...

actually

highest and tightest

Unknown said...

I cut Dex's hair and completely messed up once, we had to buzz it. I cried and cried, but then learn- eh. It's only hair. It grows. :) He looks awesome.

Unknown said...

When I said HE I meant yours not mine. LOL.

Anonymous said...

Leave it to the professionals, Bill. Never did a job like that myself. My cuts left you with too much, yours left Wyatt with too little.Do you think you should do that? answer is always and should be NO.

for a different kind of girl said...

After a string of bad haircuts among all the males in my house, and choking when I stumbled upon the receipt for the most recent of said bad haircuts, I've been stumbling over 'how to' clips and articles about cutting boys' hair with clippers. I was getting pretty comfortable with the idea of trying soon.

Until now.

Yours, sir, is truly a cautionary tale that has forced me to wonder what I was thinking.

:)

James (SeattleDad) said...

Nice job Bill! It'll grow back in no time.

SFD said...

Just takes practice is all. We cut both mine and my son's hair with clippers; no ill effects.

doctorw0rm said...

Oh god my dad that too me once and dueto my outstandingly large hyead i was the laughing stock of my friends for months. anyway if your looking for some funny perspectives on things check out my blog at http://twoheadedboys.blogspot.com/ and follow it if you dig it

Anonymous said...

that last comment was not from me