Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Trini Tuesday-Find the Foreigner


In stead of 'Where's Waldo?' we have a game of 'find the foreigner.' It's not exactly the picture I wanted but I couldn't find the one I was looking for. Do you see her in the lower left corner with the red hair? Put her outside in the bright tropical sunshine and she looks like her head is on fire. You can't miss her.

Given that Diana was prone to wandering away if we didn't have a tight grip on her hand it was pretty convenient that she stuck out from a crowd so easily. Being a red head in a sea of dark faces with dark hair does have that as an advantage. There were times when it drove her a bit crazy. When she was even younger than in this picture and a crowd of children would close in around her determined to explore her bright hair and pale skin with a hundred inquisitive fingers she understandably found that a bit too much.

When Mr. Lime and I wanted to celebrate our anniversary by having dinner in town our dear friends offered to watch Diana for the night. We came back some hours later and asked if everything went well. My friend Flora said yes but she would never take Diana on another walk in the village again. I was concerned that perhaps Diana, who has ALWAYS had a mind of her own, had acted up defiantly and caused a problem. Flora assured me Diana had behaved well but the problem was that every 3 steps some other child was coming up wanting to touch Diana's hair and skin, wanting to know 'Whu happen to she color? She bathe and it come off she?'

Of course there were other issues that came with being a redhead in the tropics. I had to be extremely careful so she didn't get a sunburn. She lived in prairie bonnets and I sort of wished I had a vat I could fill with sunblock and dip her in every morning. It would have been easier than the constant smearing. Around the house she rarely wore more than a diaper but if we went out for the day I covered as much of her skin as I could. At night I'd let her go with as few clothes as possible. Of course every Trini grandmother was sure I was going to kill this child because I had it all backwards. During the day it was, 'Look how de chile will stifle in de heat with so much clothes and a hat!' At night it was, 'But look, de chile naked in de dew. She would catch her death!' To a Trini grandmother there are few things worse a mother can do than allow her baby to go without a knit hat outside at night...bareheaded 'in the dew' (night air) you will catch the virus and die!'

I am happy to report that in spite of my risky parenting style Diana has safely made it to age 16. Long live the redhead!

20 comments:

G-Man said...

Long Live The Defiant Redheads!! Mornin Trini.
I Think you did just fine! ...G

Anonymous said...

Wow 16 already.
Great picture, it took me awhile to find her.lol
Thanks for sharing another Trini story with us.
I hope you are doing better today.
tc

Hypersonic said...

Ahhh, the trials and tribulations of us fair-skinned folk in the tropics. I have a life-time account with coppertone.

Logophile said...

Long live in the redhead!
I feel your pain, and hers.

Anne Coleman said...

Oh! This reminds me of my landlords~they are missionaries in Uganda and have 2 redheads. I never thought about this aspect. I wonder if they come across that much?

david santos said...

Hello!
All very nice, thank you

Melodie Norman Haas said...

What a great story! What adventures Diana has had and all before she was 16! How cool! Thanks for sharing!

Happy Tuesday!!

CozyMama said...

I totally saw the red hair like right away!!! Oh lord I think I just reverted back to how I talked when I was 13, GOOD GAWD. Have a great day!!

Anonymous said...

I love this story!!

ttfootball said...

Lime this is the funniest picture! I'm trying to go through the permutations of how the other one could have been better hehehe
"she bathe and it come off" LOL LOL How country is that hahahaha

But yeah I suppose there was no escape here, I don't recall ever seeing any redhead trinidad whites..hmmm

lime said...

gman, vive la resistance!

tc, time does fly doesn't it? and yes thanks, it's a better day

hypersonic, neutrogena gets our business!

logo, i well know you do!

anne, i am betting they do! thanks for stopping by

david, hello to you

ameratis, yes she can tell a few stories of her own...

jodes, lol...it's ok, it was early morning

steve, thanks!

tt, the pic i wanted to put out was her on top of the slide in the playground. the sun made her hair look like flame!

ttfootball said...

Lime on another note, I would love to get some advice on american teenagers sometime if you wouldnt mind

S said...

I really like redheads too....

I think when Little Rita finally comes to India with me, there will be a lot of hair touching and stuff.

16, ack, when did that happen? Oh yeah the pickle post...LOL

(M)ary said...

well, i am not surprised that a daughter of yours stands out in the crowd. and i bet it is not just her hair color which is uniquely beautiful!

lime said...

susie, oh yes, you'd better prepare her! my goodness i can just imagine the two of you unleashed on india!!!

m, yes, her sassy attitude got her a lot of attention too, lol. thanks for your kind words too

Mona said...

Red heads are HOT!...& we take all the pains to give our black hair a deep red hue by applying henna [ a herb that give redd hue & is also conditioning] to our hair weekly!
Your red head sounds cool...though YOU are cooler!
Red head with green eyes...Fatal combination!

Moosekahl said...

Red hots will one day rule the world :) Hardest color to put in, hardest color to cover up according to my stylist. I stopped fighting it a while ago...decided to just help it out instead and liven it up with a few other shades every once in a while. Red is completely sexy! What a cutey....

Cosima said...

Argh, sun burn the scourge of the pale. It's my problem too, but fortunately my son comes more after his dad, and can last longer than five minutes in the sun.

On a visit to Beijing, people were constantly smiling and pointing at my father's unruly, curly, white hair. Clown that he is, he felt inspired to make funny faces for them, which brought about even more giggles.

Anonymous said...

Aaaahhhh ... the joys of sunscreen and redheaded daughters.

Kudos Diana!! And her mom.

Meghan said...

I was a pale blondie living in Trinidad... I know how it feels. I usually never went to the beach until after 3PM. And I was called every name in the book, my fav might be "milky". I got real tired of being stared at, but after awhile, I stopped noticing!