I Did NOT Inherit the Magic Gene

Yesterday was a big day. I shaved my legs. I was going to see a matinee of Jay Johnson’s Tony award winning “The Two and Only” at the Majestic Theater and I needed to shave my legs. It was actually seeing Jay Johnson’s “The Two and Only” that made it such a big day, not the shaving of my legs.

I hate shaving my legs.

When I was child I was often told the legend of my paternal grandmother. She shaved her legs once in her life and never had to again because the hair never grew back. Now, I have no way of knowing if this was true or not because whenever I saw her she had on thick support stockings, or was in bed covered by a sheet, but everyone swore it was true.

I remember the first time I shaved my legs. I had been told so often that I was like my paternal grandmother that I just knew that I had that magic gene. The one that would require only one shaving and one shaving only and that part of my grooming life would be over. I was very, very careful. I did not want to miss any hair on the back of my legs because if I missed even one hair the magic gene would not work. Being the first time I shaved, of course there were many nicks and several pieces of tissue were required, but I did not think that had anything to do with whether or not the hair would grow back.

Well, I think we all know that I did not receive that magic gene since I started this great epic with the fact that I shaved my legs today. I was crushed when the hair grew back after that first shaving. I just did not understand why I did not have that magic gene. It was after that when I began shaving my arms because an aunt on my mother’s side did and I thought maybe I had more genes from their side than my dad’s, but that is another story.

I used an electric razor today because I have so many wounds on my legs from various activities of late. My mother asked me why I was bothering to shave my legs when I was going to wear pants. I explained to my mother that the pants I was wearing were thin knit and the hair on my legs had gotten so long that I was afraid it would stick out of the material. What would that be like? What if someone decided they liked the hairy knit pants and wanted to know where to buy some? What would I say? I would be too embarrassed to say “It is just my hairy legs.” No, I would have to say “At the hairy pants store,” and walk away.

So the legs are shaved. Jay Johnson was fabulous. Dinner at Taverna was terrific. The company was the best there could be. So all and all, I am glad I shaved my legs.