Barrettes Are Back!

Barrettes are hair accessories that were in vogue when I was a little girl. My mom would always clip onto my hair a barrette that matched my dress.

Now they’re back! And I see them not just on little girls’ hair but on young ladies’, too. 

While in the mall one day, I saw beautiful ones in all shapes and colors displayed on a sale rack. I had in mind to buy a dozen, but got distracted by other items.   

That night, Ricky, a dear friend and former colleague—funny and religiously irreverent—in the workplace, posted on his FB wall in huge fonts: "Te, there is an age limit to barrettes!" (Te is short for Ate, an honorific for older women.)

I quickly typed in my reply, “Whew, am I glad I didn’t buy them.”

His comeback, “You’re just 35, aren’t you Grace?” 

Another friend replied, “Oh, no! I have so many of those. Should I just throw them away?”

His retort, “You’re a few years younger than Grace, keep them.”

Yet another friend wrote, “How about me? Am I beyond the age limit?”

His riposte: “The age limit is 95, you still have some years to go.”

Ha-ha-ha-ha! 

Not only are barrettes back, the grace of kinship we enjoyed in the workplace is back as well. In fact, it visits me now and then as I approach my sunset years. I hope Ricky and the rest of the “smart alecks” keep it going. 

Barrettes may have an age limit, but friendship lives on, defying age.