As children, my little sister and I, to our mother’s delight, had soft, curly hair. It was getting close to Easter, and one day Mom left to run an errand. We were given strict instructions to behave ourselves. Aunt Sissy was in her room, resting, and we weren’t to bother her.

My sister had just had a birthday and there’d been these cute little wooden birds on her birthday cake. They had wire legs and a hole in their backs for birthday candles.  We got them out of the drawer to play with and decided that they needed a nest.

I remember we looked all around for something to use, but came up empty. Then, apparently, I got the bright idea of using our hair. As I was the oldest, I think I was five and my sister was three, I was the “cutter.”

I cut off my little sister’s beautiful curls.  We made a nest but it was kind of skimpy, so I started on my hair. I’d cut one side and was about to start on the other when in walked Mom.

She was carrying two bags and she had this big smile on her face for about a millisecond. Her incredulity morphed rather quickly into anger, if I remember correctly. Of course, it was obvious my sister was too young to have done the dirty deed, although I think I rather cowardly tried to include her in the blame, so I got the spanking.

Later, with a resigned look, Mom opened the two bags and brought out two precious Easter bonnets that would have framed our curls.

Later, she had to even up my hair which left me looking like my sister – practically bald. Poor Mom. We looked lost in those bonnets. Not exactly how she thought we’d look.

But it would’ve been a super bird nest.