Committed Relationship

As I sat in the salon chair today, sipping on hot coffee in a tiny little glass cup, something occurred to me.

My hair stylist, the dear and beautiful Kathy, is my longest Chicago relationship.

(besides my ex-roommate, Jill, of course)

I have been seeing her every eight weeks for the last eight and a half years. I knew that it was "right" from our first time together. Loyal to her and to her only, I have not cheated. I have paid dallying glances to cheaper "quick cut" spots when finances were tight, but rather than going elsewhere, I just went without. Okay, that's not entirely true. I did, just once, go somewhere else and get a cheapie haircut, and the hack job I received quickly proved me the fool. I went back to Kathy and sheepishly admitted my mistake. She forgave me at once.

I'm proud of my relationship with her. I tell other people about her and compliment her traits to anyone who will listen.

She doesn't change her mind about how she feels about me. She doesn't decide, after a lengthy commitment, that 'something is missing.' She doesn't talk about other clients and she doesn't compare me to anyone else. She tells me I'm beautiful, and leaves me looking better than when I first arrived.

We talk about our families, our friends, our jobs, our loves, our losses, our vacations, our clothes and our dreams. We hug hello, and hug goodbye. It is affectionate and charming, and I know that she really knows me when I come in. It isn't as if she has to check the book to see what my name is. We're "in."

I've grown up in that chair.

I've gone from the "Chicago virgin" in 2000, to "comfortable resident" in the years following, to "permanent gal" when I bought a condo here in 2005, to the present. I have had four different jobs, been through two layoffs, had three different addresses and four different haircuts while we've been together.

Of course, I will continue to see her. I'm proud to say that I've got an eight-and-a-half year relationship going.

With confirmed dates, complete with a hair wash and a head massage, every eight weeks.

I can't complain.

*Shameless plug on her behalf here: go to J. Gordon Designs in Lincoln Park and ask for Kathy. You won't be disappointed. Tell her I sent you!