Looking back at my childhood, one memory continuously haunts me. Oh, how I wish I could go back in time to change this one moment, but it’s too late.

I was in second grade at the time. I was one of the girls who was trapped in the Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen craze. My best friend and cousin, Bailee, and I loved them with all of our hearts and were slowly transforming into our beloved Olsen twins. Being Ashley and Mary-Kate’s biggest fans wasn’t as easy as it looked. We were two different-looking girls trying to become look-a-likes. But one teensy-weensy problem got in the way of our dream, the hair. If Bailee and I were to be twins we had to have the same style of hair, right? Well, at least that was the thought running through my seven-year-old head. Bailee had short hair, barely reaching her shoulders, while I had long hair that fell to the middle of my back. There was only one thing to do, cut it!

It was a warm Friday night and I had just arrived at Bailee’s house for a sleepover. Wearing pink pajamas and bunny slippers, I was ready to have a blast. The night consisted of Ashley and Mary-Kate’s latest movie, games, pillow fights, dancing, and of course talking about cute boys. Gradually, our conversation about all the cute boys in our class turned into me needing to get a hair cut so we could live our twin dream. Being very charismatic and persuasive, I was able to persuade Bailee to cut my hair that night. “Oh come on, you do a wonderful job cutting your barbies’ hair and this will give you a chance to cut a real person’s hair!” It was around 3:00 a.m. when she finally grabbed the sharpest scissors she could find. We both took a deep breath, closed our eyes and then Bailee took the first snip. Soon other snips followed until Bailee was satisfied that it was the best she could do. Now that I look back at that moment, the hair cut was pretty impressive for her being an unexperienced seven-year-old and doing the job in the dark. We collected all the hair and flushed it down the toilet so no one would know what we had done.

In the morning Aunt Lanie and Uncle Robert stood in the kitchen whispering for a long time while Bailee and I pretended to be enthralled in Barnie and Friends. We held our breath until Aunt Lanie finally asked the dreaded question, “Elizabeth, did you get a hair cut?” I replied in the affirmative, but Bailee and I still didn’t fess up. Aunt Lanie said, “That’s funny, I didn’t notice it yesterday.” To which Bailee replied, “I can’t believe you didn’t notice, mom!” A few minutes later, Aunt Lanie was sitting next to me on the couch examining my hair. Of course, she realized the obvious. Uncle Robert had to break the news to my mom because Aunt Lanie didn’t dare! Good thing my parents aren’t freak out parents. My mom and dad, just laughed and took my to the salon. I got exactly what I wanted!