The End of an Era. But not the beauty.

There are no photos but I very much wish you could see the three little girls swinging on the swing set they found behind the little shop their parents were working every single night to turn into a beauty shop.

We didn't know then the enormity of our parents' undertaking. We pumped our little legs to go higher and higher but didn't understand it was our mothers taking the real risk. And we certainly didn't understand how long lasting and far reaching their business would be.

49 years. It lasted 49 years.

This week, my sweet mom and her dear sister have announced that they are closing the doors next month of the shop that has been Claudia and Carolyn's Beauty Shop for almost 50 years.  (And trust me, they would have continued beyond 50 were if not for a landlord who made the decision for them -- without them -- after 20 years! I have thoughts and emotions about this but it is not the point here.)

The original shop started as an unattached garage in a sweet little residential area. Layout was planned, rock was brought in to make a parking lot, hairdryers, sinks, and chairs that could spin were added to the little building, and after a ton of work by our families the shop was born.

I grew up there. I spent my days begging my mother to let me brush out her client's hair before she washed it. I cleaned brushes. I took the wraps off the permanent rods. I rinsed those papers and straightened them back out. I emptied the garbage and I swept the hair. 

And I no doubt talked the ears off women coming in for my mom to work her magic. And she did make absolute magic there. I was astounded as a little girl by the transformation that occurred every time someone walked in the door.

I spent summers curling up in the empty hairdryers, reading every single book and magazine left behind by those dear ladies. And it was in the middle of that shop that I was told repeatedly how to dream, how to set goals for my future, and reach for them. The love poured out to me as I grew up led me to always plan trips home with my babies on my Mother's busiest days at the shop. I knew I had to take them in so that the women who had helped raise me could get to know them -- and more importantly so my children could know them!

My mother and her sister started so much more than a beauty shop in 1974. So much more.

My Claire and Aunt Claudia's first granddaughter, Meri Scott!

Mason hiding.

Mom and Aunt Claudia kept their shop in that little building for almost thirty years. I will never forget the day mom called to tell me a fire had destroyed their shop. I was devastated then.  The place I grew up -- the house of my childhood memories -- was gone. And while I was sad and wishing I had more photos, more time there, Mom and Aunt Claudia were looking for a new home for the business that still had years left to go! We all gathered, there was painting to be done, decorating to do and a grand opening for the business that was absolutely necessary to sustain our hopes, our dreams, and some amazing hair! Never once did these two ladies consider letting their dreams die. Never once.

Grand Opening!!

I will tell you that the shop -- smack dab in the middle of a strip mall -- was not nearly as romantic as the original. Three little girls (and eventually the two boys and girl who joined the cousin pack) were grown and didn't have lemonade stands out front. Grown me didn't curl up in empty dryers and read whatever books were left behind (appropriate or no.). And the novelty of the coke machine being filled on a hot summer day was not quite as big a deal.

But do you know what happened? Mom's and Aunt Claudia's grandchildren made memories there:

And women were made beautiful. Friendships were forged and fed. Livelihoods were supported.

But this month, the doors will close. Mom and her sister will continue to do hair in a booth down the road. But the era that has been Claudia and Carolyn's Beauty Shop -- the era that has lasted almost 50 years -- will come to a close.

And I keep hearing Kathleen Kelly from You've Got Mail in my head discussing her business being personal: "Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal."  I am sad that decisions beyond her control -- decisions I can only assume were more business than personal --  have forced my mom's hand. 

I am sad we can't all gather and bid farewell to the shop that supported us through high school, ensured we could go to college, dressed triplets born while we were in medical school, and sustained my precious mother as she navigated life as a widow for the last 30 years. 

But I am grateful. I am grateful for so much beauty.