divorce and haircut( scott smallwood).docVIP

divorce and haircut( scott smallwood)By SCOTT SMALLWOODPublished: December 9, 2007 original linkFOR the first time in 13 years, I was sitting in a barber’s chair. The barber, Mike — mid-50s, short, with a head of thinning, perfectly groomed hair — turned me to face the mirror and asked, “So, what are we going to do today?” I was so out of practice that I hadn’t even anticipated this question. I hemmed and hawed. Finally he said, “Just clean it up a bit?” “Yeah, that sounds good.” He picked up a comb and started in. “I haven’t been to a barber in a long time(我好长时间没有理发了),” I said. “My wife always cuts my hair. But after 13 years, she’s left me. So I figure I need to find a different haircutter.” This, I know, was quite a bombshell to drop on Mike the barber after 10 seconds in his chair(对于MIKE 这个理发师来说它是相当震惊的以致使他在椅子上10秒钟). But he just nodded. A minute later, he asked, “So does your wife cut hair for a living(那么你的妻子也是以理发来维持生活的)?” “Oh, no,” I said. “Just mine.(只是为我理发)” I considered telling him everything, unburdening myself to the barber as though he were a priest and the chair a confessional(我想告诉他关于我的一切,向这个理发师来卸掉自己的重担,好像他就是一个牧师椅子就是一个忏悔室的椅子). I thought I could give him the CliffsNotes(简短的) version of our relationship: how we met in high school biology, went off to separate colleges, married at 20, had our first daughter by 21 and two more by 27. How, before marrying, I converted to her conservative religion. And how, unable to quell my longstanding misgivings(无法压制自己长时间的疑问), I made the wrenching(做了一个令人难受的决定) decision a decade later to leave the church. I knew my move might threaten our marriage, and ultimately I was right — it did, but not the way I had expected. Instead of dividing us, it briefly sent us down the same path, as my wife soon walked away from the church, too. But in her case it was a faith that had defined her for 30 years.(30年生活的定义) At first, our church-free life seemed full of possibility. Things got tougher, though, as we tried to find our way without th