Found Object -- Lost 8-26-2005

My husband has retina-searing red hair. His father is the 8th redheaded child of two redheaded parents. My man was the only of 35 grandchildren to keep red hair past childhood. My poor father-in-law's nickname is "Red" and he takes off his hat to explain why, but now it's just snowy white. Our three children all have daddy's red hair. [Believe me, that went a long way with the old man].

When my husband was in the Army, the Australian officers called him "Blue". Apparently that's funny to the Aussies... redheads are nicknamed "Blue" there. All his hispanic employees call him "Rojopelo". It's what every culture notices.

Red hair is so beautifully distinctive when natural [in all its variations from dark auburn to blaze orange] and so obvious when phoney. I think that's because other things like freckles and red eyelashes are part of the set.