"Now I know, Daddy" :)

Did you have any chores to do when you were young? Any that you dreaded doing? For me, I didn’t mind helping out in the kitchen or cleaning the house or folding the clothes or watering the plants or washing my parent’s car but one thing that me and my siblings would always try to avoid was when we were asked to pluck out our dad’s grey hair!!

Everytime he lies down in front of the tv, we know that would be the sign. He’ll call out our names and say "ok...sapa nak cabut uban Daddy ni?". We would be pushing each other and say, "Go la..Its your turn", "Hey, I did it the last time!" "No..I did it.." "You go.." "No, you go!". This would go on for a couple of minutes until my dad screams out our names one by one. At that point we’ll be panicking and usually whovever’s the the younger sibling at the time would have to go. Of course the older sibling would always have the excuse "I did it more times than you, so, you go!". I guess its a way for the older sibling to bully the younger one. My sister used to do that to me and I would do it to my brother and he would do it to our youngest brother. But most of the time Daddy didn’t need to call us because the ‘victim’ would always be the unlucky person who entered the tv room. Sometimes, if either one of us enters the tv room and see him lying down, we’ll quietly sneak out and immediately warn each other. "Daddy’s in the tv room..and he has the tweezers!!". And we’ll know what it means :). So, off we go to hide somewhere..until of course, when he screams out our names.

Yeah...I know, we were bad but then again, what do you expect from kids that age? Plucking out grey hairs wasn’t exactly a fun thing to do. Number one, we had to remain static at one place. Number two, it would be ok if we got to choose the tv channel but usually my dad decides the programme and it was always the boring ones. So you can imagine how tiring the whole activity was. There was this one time when I wasn’t in the mood and I asked him "how long do I have to do it?". He said "ok, try to find 20 grey hairs, then you can stop". He didn’t have that many grey hairs at the time and even if I could find 20 grey hairs, it would take me a lot of time. So it was definitely a challenge. What did I do? I cheated. Since he was lying on the carpet, I searched for any strands that had a resemblance to grey hairs! Of course I had to do it very discreetly. I combined that with his actual grey hairs that I found and walllahh.... I got the 20 grey hairs in a span of 10 minutes! He was so amazed!! Or maybe shocked that I could actually find 20 grey hairs! Jahat la I..Poor Daddy...

Back then I thought what’s the big deal about grey hairs anyway? Why don’t we just let it grow? I didn’t understand it then but now I do...after having a few grey hairs of my own, that is. I had like one or two before but ignored it thinking my hair must have got damaged because I got it highlighted early last year. I took it out anyway because no way would I let people see me with grey hairs! (Am obviously a vain person..hihi). But last weekend I just totally freaked out! While combing my hair, I saw a grey hair and since it was out of reach, I asked my maid to take it out. When she pulled it, she saw another one, then another one and another until in total she took about 10 grey hairs! And all in one go?? I nearly had a heart attack (not that I really know what that feels like). I’m still in my early 30s and I have 10 grey hairs??!! Sob..sob. I know my birthday is coming up but is this like a big reminder that I’m getting old?? Whats the normal age to get grey hairs anyway?

Told my mum on Sunday and she said "Nooo...don’t take it out. More will grow!". But how come she didn’t tell my dad off back then? People have been telling me this but I’m not sure if its true. Could it just be an old wives tale? Tell me guys...show me facts, show me statistics..I mean, is it scientifically proven?

Different people show different reaction towards grey hairs. Depends what age they are la, of course. Some just yank it out, some would dye their hair and some couldn’t care less. I guess I understand now what my dad felt all those years. People equate grey hairs to being old. Maybe we didn’t want to look old..just yet. In some bizzare way, it was also a bonding session for us. The ‘alone’ time was used to catch up on stuffs, talk about school etc. Anyway Daddy, thanks for the memories. Even though it was kind of a ‘torture’ but I wouldn’t change that memory for the world......