Two Bishops

I’m obsessively checking my head for new hair. Checking, rechecking, checking again, all within a 10 minute span. I’ve been fine without hair, but all of a sudden I’m done with it, done. I know it will be years before it even hits my shoulders but I miss that feeling of brushing my hair and then pulling my fingers through it to gather into a ponytail. I’m having hair envy and I’m getting anxious for new growth, so naturally, I’m worrying that it won’t grow back. I went on-line and found a few outlyers chatting about how their hair came in so thinly, or configured like male pattern baldness that they’re still buzzing their heads a year later. Damn you outlyers, damn you internets making me crazy{er}.

Except that my baldness led me to a wonderful chance meeting yesterday. After a long day at middle school orientation, exhausting, but went great, J and I stopped into our local café for a cold beverage. While waiting on line, the woman behind me told me that she too had been bald once. We kept talking all the way to the island where you get your lids and straws and there was just something really special about her. She exuded calm and warmth, true sincerity and kindness, I was really drawn to her, she was the kind of person you remember despite such a minor encounter. I finally asked her name and she said Gerilyn Wolf and I yelped “you’re the bishop.” And indeed she was. The open-minded, progressive, lived among the homeless, Episcopal Bishop of Rhode Island. I just love that you never know who you’ll meet and when... usually when you least expect, I think. Plus, as we'd just come from Nathan Bishop School, that made for two bishops in one day.