ROYSE CITY —
Look at the man pictured here.
That’s yours truly, Jim Hardin, the person who gets to make a written contribution to this space each week.
I pointed out the pictured Jim Hardin because an imposter has been roving the Rockwall County highways, byways and interstate the last year or so. The imposter closely resembles the man pictured here, but he has hair.
That’s right. Hair. Can you believe it?
You know, we’re one and the same. I did go through a hair stage recently, but I’m back to the self-inflicted baldness I enjoyed for several years.
I grew hair a while back because wife Becky asked a question. I’m not sure which is the correct question, but she wondered aloud whether I could grow hair or what I would look like with hair.
She got an answer to both possible questions.
I grew hair that was always fine, sometimes fluffy, sometimes spikey, sometimes gelled, sometimes neatly trimmed, but rarely combed. I even had to go to a hair salon periodically for a haircut.
I grew hair for my wife even though I was perfectly happy bald. Some will pay me a compliment and say I did that because that’s who I am. Well, that’s true. But the very real reason I grew hair was because of who my wife is.
Becky would do anything to make me happy, so if growing hair would make her happy, then I’m going to give it my best shot.
Now, we’re going back to who my wife is. On a recent weekend, I whined about my hair. I didn’t like it. I thought it looked awful. So what did Becky do? Instead of lecturing me about my whining, she told me to cut my hair.
I gushed. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Before long, I was bald again.
And how did Becky respond when I came down the stairs with my new shiny-head look?
Becky is a faith-filled positive person. There’s not a negative bone in her body.
“You look great, handsome, awesome,” she said of my new look with a new haircut. “Now, that’s you.”
As I am closing in on the end of this story, I am realizing that the subject isn’t about hair at all. It’s just a very simple illustration about what happens when two people love each other. They give in order to make each other happy.
So, will I start growing hair again today?
No. Knowing my wife as I do, she will be perfectly happy with me saying, “Thank you. I love you.”
That’s who Becky is. She gets a lot of joy — and Joy just happens to be her middle name — having a happy husband around the house.
And to her, when you get down to the serious side of our relationship, it really doesn’t matter whether this happy husband has hair or is bald.
Opinion
Head of hair does not equal heart of love
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Reporter in his ‘element’ at recent Taste of Rockwall event
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