First Dreadiversary!

June 21^st is a big day! It is the first [official] day of Summer! This year it was the 2nd anniversary of my mother's death. And... it was the 1st anniversary of dreading my hair. Its been an interesting year.

My Very First Dreadlock

Honestly, my focus on my dreadlocks has been a nice distraction from sadness over my mom. And I've learned so much over the last year! My dreadlocks were originally backcombed. We used wax at the time. Since then I stopped using wax at the request of a "loctician." I've had my dreads professionally maintained once. I've gotten a tool to do some upkeep myself. Mostly, I've learned that dreadlocks are more work than I thought they would be. I've also learned that people LIKE dreadlocks! I get compliments, comments and questions all the time! I still love my 64 60 dreads!

So I was faced with a question... how did I want to commemorate my "dreadiversary?" I asked some other dready mommas online for ideas and couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it myself: a bead!

On my Dreadiversary, I actually got to go to the Bead Merchant all by myself! (I almost never leave home without Spencer.) I browsed around and told the owner what I was seeking. She looked around and helped me find a dish of handmade zodiac beads... they didn't have every zodiac left, but they had mine: Pisces. It felt like fate!

Handmade Bead $9 or so

I did look some more, in case anything else spoke to me even more than this bead. Then I found a bead that resembled one I'd been wanting! Specifically, it is metal with spaces that are bare so you can see through the bead to the hair. I love these on dreads!

I don't think this one was handmade, it was only about 90¢.
I clearly need to clean up this lock, though!

The first bead is my official commemorative bead. The second was just bonus. I also wear 7 other beads in my locks. Have you done things to commemorate unusual anniversaries? You can find all of my dreadlock posts here or see posts about my mom by searching my blog for Gran.