The Scryer ✔️

~Mister Grumpy-Butt~

Life with John wasn't always easy, to say the least. He'd been accustomed to being able to have sex whenever and wherever...all that changed just a few months prior to the birth of Alexander. He talked to the men at work and even some of the women who were mothers and they all told him the same thing: wait it out. That there were things going on in my body that prevented me from even thinking about wanting sex...Currently, I was still healing, my hormone levels were wonky and I was tired. All the time. He had accompanied me to my check ups and to the well-baby visits and to his surprise, everything that he and I were going through, or not going through as it were, was completely normal.

On the afternoon that I had sat for portraits in the park, I was watching him and the baby lying on a soft blanket that we had lay on the grass nearby; it was still fairly chilly, so the baby was bundled up in little baby jeans, a black tee shirt like his Daddy and tiny baby sneakers to match. I thought John very handsome with his long hair pulled back into a pony tail, his sunglasses resting on the bridge of his nose and that beautiful smile of his. One of the beauticians approached him with a smile asking if our son was his, he grinned and nodded as he pointed in my direction. "Yeah! Hers and mine! His name is Alexander...isn't he awesome!"

She smiled pleasantly. "He is! Congratulations!"

He beamed. "Thank you. She deserves all the credit though, she gave birth to him. I just got to watch!" He laughed nervously. "Did you need to see Gabby about something?"

"No, I actually wanted to talk to you. Would you like to sit for a few portraits alone? I understand you're an architect, at least that's what your wife said?"

He nodded. "Yes, that's right. But, what does that have to do with having photographs taken"

"The photographer was hired to do the annual photo shoot for your company. He wondered if he could get a few shots of you...no charge of course."

"Why doesn't he come over and ask me himself?"

"Because he's crazy busy and I'm his wife," she replied, chuckling. "So I get the job, you know?"

He nodded. "Oh wow," he said mournfully. "Now I know how my wife feels..."

"What possessed you to grow your hair that long? No offense, but do clients actually take you seriously with your hair like that?"

"We were raised Amish. We don't cut our hair," he replied. I turned my head and gaped at him.

She laughed and shook her head. "Sweetheart, I'm from Lancaster county and I know better. It's the women who don't cut their hair!"

"Okay, I'm busted. I told her that I'd cut my hair when she cuts hers."

"Well, I cut hair. You might want to take a few inches or maybe even a foot off it if you want to be taken seriously."

He nodded thoughtfully. "I don't have a foot of hair," he said. "Besides, I let my work speak for itself. But I'll think about it."

I walked over to him, almost tripping on the long black gown they had me in...so gothy and so not me...I prefer a more natural look and I like pink and baby blue, for Christ's sake! "You should do it, John," I said.

He looked up at me over the rim of his sunglasses as Alexander grabbed at his hair as if on cue. "OWWW....You two are conspiring against me! I knew it!" He looked toward our son, as he grinned ear to ear and lifted his little tee shirt and blew on his belly gently causing Alexander to laugh.

John relented and allowed the photographer's wife to cut his hair and had the shots taken.

This is one of his finished photos.

And this, is mine.

The black and white one is for the website and the other was for us; there was so much hairspray in my hair that it took days to get it out...and the make up...ugg! I wondered if people knew what I really looked like, how I really dressed, the natural color of my hair, if they'd request my services? John shook his head and looked into my eyes. "Probably not, Babe," he said and I huffed a sigh. The one where I'm with no make up and no hairspray is the one photograph that he picked out for himself. It sat on his desk at work...the unbuttoned look was a last minute decision by yours truly...I rather like it.

I loved John's photo so much that I paid to have it blown up and then took it to get it matted and framed; it hangs on the wall over the mantle of our fireplace.