Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Hair-dos and Lost Friends

Today I got my hair colored and styled. It's been over a year since I had my hair colored and/or cut, so this was a treat. I keep looking at myself in the mirror and wondering who this young, stylish woman is who seems vaguely familiar but strangely different. My husband pronounced that I looked like Edith Bunker from "All in the Family" and I had to agree with him until I combed it out. Now I look less like my mother and more like somebody my age.

A fellow writer friend of mine, Joyce Herndon Lackey, recently passed away. She wrote a wonderful book, "Ghosts On Buffalo Creek" among numerous other works. "The disaster on Buffalo Creek was as horrific as any mining disaster the coalfields had ever experienced – 125 people killed, 4000 left homeless, 16 communities completely or partially destroyed."(Mimi Pickering) Joyce Lackey picked up the voices of women who may have lived on Buffalo Creek and described the horror of the disaster, as well as demonstrating their strong will to survive and resilience in the face of unthinkable loss.

Joy and I were supposed to meet up a couple of months ago for a drink and some lunch. I was wallowing in my depression and couldn't bring myself to subject anyone outside of my family to my foul mood, so I declined at the last minute. It would have been the last time I'd have seen her. I can still hear her voice, laughing, always tuned in to whatever was going on and expressing her opinions (which were usually colorful and interesting). The world is a darker place without Joy Lackey.

I catch myself looking in the mirror again. I think Joy would've liked my hair.

1 comment:

Sarah Dooley said...

Came across this just today. Joy was ... well, I just don't have the words, she was that special.