When I was in fourth grade, I think, I got lice. I'm not sure from whom I got them and I know that they didn't suddenly appear on my own head, they had to have been shared. It was traumatic, to say the least, because my grandmother cut my hair off so that I looked like a pixie - her words - or a boy - mine. I have pictures from that age that make me totally cringe. I got kicked out of school until I was cured.
Flash forward to when I was 19-years-old and just about to go into the Army. I was a couple of days away from getting on a bus and living temporarily with my friend and her family. I had just come back from visiting my mom and step-dad. They had just had a visit from his kids. I got a call from my mom telling me that my step-sisters had lice and I needed to check my own head. Sure enough, I had them.
My hair was in a cute little bob at the time, so no traumatic haircut for me. Unfortunately, that time my friend, with whom I was staying had just gotten a perm. I had to treat her head before she even got those two or three days for the chemicals to set. She was not happy. And I was mortified that I had left such a parting gift to such a hospitable family.
I had treated the lice, but felt the "itchies" for a very long time after that while in-processing into the Army without a hope of a friend to check me again and certainly not wanting to share this awful information, though now, as a more grown-up adult, I really should have because I was in such close quarters with so many people!
Flash forward to the present time. Our schools have had several lice-scares and I've been diligent to check my kids. I figure that if they get them, I will and if they don't, then I probably don't have them either. Unfortunately, because of my two previous experiences, any head itching on my part freaks me out. My scalp is very sensitive to soaps and stuff, which can create an itching that mimics the crawling feeling of critters.
But lately I have felt the horrible crawling feeling again. It's miserable and it means that I need to check my kids because I can't really check myself. So here goes...
Nope. Nothing. And my girls even checked my head. Phew. I'd better change shampoos again.
3 comments:
There was a hilarious episode of "South Park" dedicated to our favorite fourth-graders getting lice - check it out on-line if you can. By the end of the episode I kind of felt sorry for the parasites and the lice, too.
Yay! No lice for you! I remember when my cousin, Emma, brought them home from second grade (now 22 and just graduated fron Oberlin). Mom, Aunt Cheri, Grandpa, Emma and I all met Nix and all itched for weeks afterward... why is that!
I love that SP "Oh Kelly... the baby!"
You dodged a bullet there. They could have found out you had lice in Basic Training and forced everyone in your platoon, as a precautionary measure, to have their heads shaved. I don't think women, regardless if they're soldiers or not, desire to look like Curley from The Three Stooges. And believe me your platoon-mates would have found out you were the "source". If that didn't guarantee you a blanket-party than nothing else would. Though for the purposes of this blog that would have been a great story.
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