All posts tagged Sioux Falls:
Cue the 1973, head-noddin’ tune from WAR
Me & Baby Brother
Couple that with a 10 year Philly, Friday Night, family, childhood ritual that started at the age of 4years old - a drive to my aunt’s house on 63rd & Felton Street for a “fade” haircut. With clippers oiled and ready, a towel to dry off our sweaty heads, along with her loving and oh-so-stern hands poised to keep us as still as possible, we would get a “mandatory” haircut every single week - whether we wanted it or not. According to my Aunt Sandy, how our haircut’s looked would be determined by the amount of wigglin’ & squirmin’ we chose to do. Well, I got some really bad haircuts on more than a few Friday nights!
My Aunt Sandy was clever at using this time in the “barber chair” (in between fussing at us to keep still & stop squirmin’) to check-in on how we were doing and have a personal conversation with each of us. Her queries would range from: How’s school? What’s happenin’ around the neighborhood? Are you getting your studies done? How’s sports going this season? Is there anything your ‘Aunt Sandy’ should know that your grandfather might get real upset to find out?!
She always knew that those few minutes she had us seated and “still” were precious and could be truly enlightening, informative and most of all…always serve as a way to show us how much she loved us and took an interest in our lives. We also knew that if we could endure these “torturous” minutes with Aunt Sandy, her Wahl clippers and keep our wigglin’ to a minimum…there was a great chance that we may get treated to an ice cream cone from Mister Softee!) - JOY!!
(Note: I have a really special relationship with my Aunt + Uncle because my older brother and I were the first children in their home. My Uncle was 23 and my Aunt was 21 years old when we arrived at their home in West Philly - I was 18 months old and my brother was almost 3 years old. The story goes that my Mom asked her sister, Aunt Sandy, and husband, Uncle Bobby, to watch us for a “few” days. The few days turned into a year and half of us being raised by my Aunt + Uncle. They nurtured, cared, and loved me as though we were their own children – they didn’t have any children at this point in their very young marriage. I’ve always enjoyed a special closeness with my aunt & uncle that dates back to those 18 months together.)
I hadn’t laid eyes on my baby brother, Kyle, in 12 years. We talked often and exchanged family pics but, we didn’t have an opportunity to literally give each other a brotherly hug in over a decade. A speaking event thru the Public Library Association was scheduled to be held in Kyle’s hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota - what wonderful serendipity!
I wondered how we might have a good, meaningful convo and not simply exchange niceties and hows-the-weather talk. I happen to be traveling with my clippers for the week-long road trip - what can I say…growing up in Philly+Aunt Sandy+all that time spent in Aunt Sandy’s barber chair = KC can cut a nice “fade” too! So, after another fitful night of sleep in a hotel bed, I had a reconnection epiphany - I’ll offer to give Kyle a haircut! I called my brother at 730am and asked if he wanted a haircut - with absolutely, NO hesitation in his voice he simply replied, “Sure!”
As I worked the clippers, in the early morning hours in the basement of my brother’s house, trimming, fading, and edging his hair & ‘stache, the “real” magic could be heard in our convo. It was as if we were back in Philly, on Felton Street, on a Friday night, laughing, talking and sharing but, with considerably less wigglin’ & squirmin’!
Me & my Baby Brother!!
More Sioux Falls pics - HERE
Books by KC
