The birth of Square Piece.

One hundred days ago I had a really crummy day.

And ninety-nine days ago, Square Piece was born.

One hundred days ago, Brian and I awoke slightly after 7am and let the dogs out.  We were having a disagreement and our conversation seemed rather important at the time, but for the life of me I cannot remember why we were bickering.  It could have been anything considering my morning irritability.  Regardless, our friend, Dave, was home for the summer and a couple of days a week he was helping Brian with his landscaping business.  One hundred days ago, Dave came over and began helping Brian load the truck.

The hounds were on full alert.  They began baying.

Stranger!  Stranger!  Stranger in the driveway!  Stranger!  Mommy!  Stranger!  Daddy!  Stranger!  I see a stranger!  Stranger!  Stranger!

This could not have gone on for more than five minutes.  I was inside (not sure why I was busy, but I know I was busy) when I heard the dogs sounding the alarm.  Brian was outside trying to load his truck.  We both scrambled to corral the hounds and calm things down from a code red to a code yellow.

Fast forward a couple hours.  The house was quiet and peaceful.  I was in the middle of getting ready for work when the doorbell rang.  And when I say I was in the middle, I mean that my hair was in a bird’s nest bundle on top of my head and my eyelashes were only curled on one side of my face.  Do you know what happens when strangers ring our doorbell?

Stranger!  Stranger!  Stranger at the door!  Stranger!  Mommy!  Stranger!  Mommy!  Stranger!  I see a stranger!  Stranger!  Stranger!

This stranger was wearing a blue uniform, a badge, a gun and all the other goodies that cops wear.  I stepped out on the deck and the officer informed me that a neighbor had called complaining about my dogs barking for a very long time in the six o’clock hour.  This is highly annoying for a few reasons: 1) We didn’t even let the dogs out until after 7am.  2) I DO, in fact, prefer that my dogs bark at strangers as it is a crime deterrent.  3) The barking could not have been more than 5 minutes as Brian and I aren’t negligent.  4) This happened outside of the hours of the county noise ordinance.  5) My face was lopsided due to the curled lashes.  And 6) throughout my entire conversation with the cop, he could see and hear the dogs going bananas through the glass door.  Wonderful.

Having been sufficiently warned, I finished getting ready for work (in a huff) and headed to the salon for a 12 hour work day.  My first client was a man who had been slotted 30 minutes for a trim.  He showed up leaving me exactly seven minutes to cut his hair.  Seven.  Minutes.

I would like to pause briefly to express one thing: When you’re tapping your toes in wait at the doctor’s office, the dentist’s office or the hair salon, bear in mind that one of the reason’s you’re waiting is not necessarily because the doctor/dentist/stylist is so slow and disrespectful of your time.  On the contrary, it could be that the very first patient/client was the one who was disrespectful of your time… Twenty-three minutes of your time to be exact.  Just sayin’.

His haircut was the first domino that tipped all of my dominos on that twelve hour day.  Man, I hate running behind!  I tried to make the best of it and enjoy each client regardless.  But my last client, Stacie (Love you!), is a gem.  Rather than me boring her with all the details of my yuck-o day (bickering with my husband, being confronted by a cop and scrambling to stay on time for 12 hours), instead I let her do the talking.  And do you know what she talked about?  BLOGS.  She told me all about the blogs she was enjoying and suggested that I look into them, too.  On such a crummy day, the thought of regular writing (for which I’ve always had a fondness) felt like a cool stream quenching my heated heart.  And as I considered this, it occurred to me that in the last year there had been a curiously high number of friends/acquaintances/clients encouraging me to write my stories down.  Curiously high.

The next morning Square Piece was born.  And it began like this.

I never vented about the specifics of that day because Square Piece isn’t about venting.  When I write Square Piece, it’s about REMINDing me of my joys, my loves, my pleasures and my lessons… even when life seems crummy sometimes.  And hopefully it reminds you, too.