HAIR WOES (and joys) and laying in the dirt

Well hello there, everybody =)
So, for once if someone asks me "what's new?" I'll have a somewhat interesting answer! Just last night at youth group, during "flashlight tag" (which my best friend and I mistakenly assumed was something like "stay hidden and avoid the flashlights at all costs") I ran smack dab into a burr bush. After freeing myself, my friend and I noticed that I had them all over my coat, so we removed them quickly and efficiently while running to our perfect hiding spot. Once we got to it, we laid flat on the ground, hoods on, alert for movement. Whenever anyone would come along, we would put our heads down, barely even breathing, fancying that this would be similar to what it was like hiding from a Nazi search party. We figured out that every time we heard the Youth Group director's distant voice counting "five, four, three, two, one" anyone who had a flashlight would go running back to the starting base and away from us, giving us a moment to raise our faces from the dirt and dead leaves upon which they rested. (In reality, this signified the end of the round where everyone had to run back to the starting base, but of course somehow we didn't quite have that part figured out as well as we thought we did.) So then a little while later, when we were getting cold and wet and I had a sneaking suspicion that not only was I laying next to a massive white fungus but my jeans were also getting dirtier and dirtier as the minutes rolled by ceaselessly, we heard footsteps fast approaching and my name being called-- this was another one of my friends, who is a bit of a prankster and usually always gets me to fall for things-- but because I and the friend I was hiding with were so proud that no one had been able to find us yet, we figured that it was a trick to lure us out of hiding so that we could be tagged. We were so onto that. So we stayed where we were, proud of our abilities of seemingly vanishing into the underbrush. After a little while more of laying in dirt and plant life, we heard the Youth Group director calling for us; then we figured that the game was probably over and people were heading back to the parish center. So we got up, brushed ourselves off, and started on our way. A huge black mud stain was on my new yellow jeans (I do hope it comes out in the wash...) and I had some lovely smudges on my face... luckily my friend remained untouched by the, ah... artistic hand of nature. She was spotless, and I was wrenching recently-discovered burrs out of my hair. When we got back to the parish center, everyone had these looks of "where on earth were you?!?" on their faces, and we were told that my dad along with a few others were sent to look for us, and that the game had been over for a little while already. Haaaaaa.... =P So I had to sit through an excellent talk looking like a bush-dwelling urchin, and hoping that I didn't smell as bad as I looked!
             Once I got home, I realized that there were a few more burrs in my hair; I took them out, thinking I had solved the problem with but a little pain-- nope. Not even close. Those hateful little balls of death were imbedded so deep into my hair (which was up in a bun, no less) that I could barely get the hair tie out! My mom had to cut one sorry little chunk of my hair that was utterly encasing one of those wretched seed pods, and she ended up soaking my hair and then dousing it in what seemed like half of my bottle of conditioner-- this enabled her to comb the burrs down a little bit so they weren't too close to my scalp. Then she grabbed the scissors, and before I knew it five inches of my curly locks were laying on the counter in front of me! It felt so weird! I was stunned for a few seconds there, but that was quickly replaced with a feeling of euphoric joy and freedom. My hair has been long for a while, and I had been thinking of cutting it for a few weeks now. So this was a welcome change :) I apologize to those of you who loved my long hair, I'll miss it too sometimes... but shoulder length might turn out to be alright!! So give me an honest vote when you see me; long or shorter? I still don't know which I prefer myself =P And that, friends, is the strange and unusual story of why I got a haircut.
Bonne journee <3

~B