Gray hair is a beautiful thing believe it or not. It means you have done many wonderful things with your life. It means you have climbed to the top of a light house during a hurricane. It means you have swum with the dolphins. Gray hair symbolizes adventure. It means you have had your first kiss, and also your first heart break. Gray hairs come from your family pet dying of old age. Best friends are what give you gray hairs when you get double dogged dare to run around the yard naked at that all girls sleep over. Gray hairs come from that one person you fell in love with. Gray hairs mean you actually did something special with your life.

Gray hair come from the things you've seen. Whether it's the dishes your husband never did, or the trash your kids never took out. It comes from you're loving family. Gray hairs come when you see your little girl walking down the aisle in all white. They come from you witnessing that crazy car crash that everyone walked away from unharmed. They come from you watching your son play the dangerous sport, football that he absolutely adores. They come from that one event where your life flashes before your eyes. These unwanted hairs come from the things you want most, seeing people smile.

Gray hairs come from the lessons you well learned in your life. It comes from all those tears you cried when you know you screwed up. It comes from the fights you had with your best friend that only made you guys closer. It comes from your mother teaching you how to cook her home made soup that you can't seem to get right. They come from that one test that you stayed up all night studying for then fail the next day. Gray hairs seem to appear when your coach yells at you for not being able to get the drill perfect. Gray hairs give you stories to tell by each strand.

Some women try to hide their gray hairs because they feel embarrassed or ashamed of having them at such a young age. They will do anything to hide them including damaging their hair with colorings after colorings. Stressing over your hair becoming gray just gives you more of these so called pests. The day you decide to stop coloring your hair and go natural is the day you accept your life and all its complications and satisfactions.

I want to become that woman one day. That woman that is proud of every single one of her stories and doesn't hide a single detail. The one that tells her children her mistakes she made in life, hoping her children don't do the same. I want to try to be that woman that doesn't have a heart attack when she gets her first gray hair, even though that will be quite the challenge. I want to be that woman that graduates from The University of Florida with the highest grade in her class and be on her way to a top of the line medical school. I want to be that woman that is a highly successful plastic surgeon helping people everyday with their insecurities and needs. I plan to be that woman that encourages her kids to do whatever they enjoy in life whether it's what I had in mind for them or not. I plan on being that woman that can still smile at the end of my day and kiss my husband goodnight. I want to be that woman.

My mom has earned her share of gray hairs. She works a stressful job at the hospital saving lives, and making people happier with themselves everyday. But she tells me all the time how she couldn't imagine herself doing anything else. Also my mom and dad separated when I was about ten months old. She pretty much raised me on her own except for the occasional weekend visit to my dad’s house and the child support check that comes every two weeks. She recently got married, but unfortunately my stepdad works an out of state job where he leaves for a month then comes home for a week then is gone again. I'm involved with competition cheerleadingng also. She has the stress of dropping me off everyday at practice praying I come home with no broken bones, which isn't always the case. But she still stands by my side with whatever I do and cheers me on every step of the way. I want to have the same strength as my mom when I become a proud mother.