Makes my heart smile

An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.

Proverbs 31:10

Same goes for hairdressers. 

I drive an hour to mine. I have sifted through many and found them lacking. The excellent one I found moved her shop an hour away to work close to her new home with her husband. So once every five weeks I make the trip. 

A side note, not related to this post, my seeking out the best hairdresser has little to do with me and a lot to do with RLB. He asked me several years ago to keep my hair platinum blond. I told him how much it would cost to maintain and how tricky this hair color can be, that a very skilled stylist would be needed along with some top notch product to maintain the health of my hair. It was all an investment he has happily made. 

I've been going to her for a long time but somehow had never asked her how she met her husband. I did today and her story just made me beam. See if you can identify the solid evidence of game theory. 

(A note to all doubters that good women exist out there, you are sadly mistaken. They most certainly do. As will be clear in this story, good men attract good women.) 

J had gotten a young woman pregnant and was now a father with visitation. M was a single, Christian, 25 year old, successful hairdresser who owned her own home in a small town. A friend of M's who was married with a six year old boy invited her to her son's T-Ball game. J's son was on this T-Ball team and J was the coach. M's friend had in mind to introduce the two of them. M was hesitant: "I'm going to watch T-Ball, not meet a man." M's friend was persistent. M bought a new outfit and went on her way to the T-Ball game and found coach J quite attractive. They all went out for dinner after (J brought backup qualifiers, a friend and his fiancee). The next day J asked M's friend for M's phone number.  M said, "I've not missed a T-Ball game since." 

M and J lived over an hour away from each other and were getting to know each other long distance by phone for the most part. M said, "You want to know how I knew he was a great guy? I'd ask if he'd like to go do something on any particular weekend, and, instead of saying 'no, I've got my kid...,'  he'd say, 'Nope, I get to go get little man that weekend, we'll have to postpone until the next weekend.'" 

When M first moved her business down to the city they live near, she was working out of a commercial space. She had her first baby at the end of last year. We'd have long conversations about her being a stay at home mom. I remember earlier this year saying to RLB, "This is just ridiculous, I'm talking with the best hairdresser I've ever had about giving up her job so she can stay home with her baby. Even to my own detriment I can't help myself!" 

J is a small business owner, a lumberjack of sorts, he runs a tree service business. For a long while he waited tables on the weekends as well. They were a young, newly married couple, who now have full custody of J's son, and they were struggling to make ends meet. Giving up her income would be a challenge. 

For the first few months, M brought their baby to work with her. But month after month it wore on her. This was no place for a baby. A baby needs to be in her home. Instead of giving up all of her clientele, M and J got to work and transformed a room in their home to be her workspace. 

She told me today, "After my first client left my home, I couldn't stop smiling. This is how it should be. My baby in her own home, with me. Napping in her own crib. I schedule my clients around her needs and I'm home. I can keep the house clean and meals made and maintain my clientele."

They live in the neighborhood he grew up in, his parents just a couple of blocks away. I teased her today about what a slice of American pie they have in this quaint little town. 

It's beautiful to see. The early makings of a wholesome family who has their priorities straight. God Bless them!