I first met Sheila nearly twenty years ago, but we both had different names then! Sheila was my solicitor, and has always been known professionally as Kate. My name was Dawn: I only became known as Rachael some years after we first met. Our relationship was purely professional at first, but we liked each other, and once the legal proceedings we were involved in were completed, we became friends. It was only then, that I found out that we were also actually neighbours, living in the same road! It was on Jae and David’s wedding day in August 1997 that I saw the whole family all dressed up getting into cars that I realised that we lived only about two hundred yards apart. Our families have become very close over the years since then. We have a lot in common and both love being grandmothers. My daughter, known as Plop, and Jae each have three beautiful boys now.
When we first met, I had dreadlocks. Sheila/Kate texted me recently to ask me about how I had kept my hair clean, because that is likely to be relevant on the 3G Kilimanjaro climb. She remembered that I had rarely washed my hair, because when I did, I had to stay at home for three days until my hair dried!
My dreadlocks: I grew them for thirteen years. The longest one was thirty six inches long. I had loads of little beads and bells sewn in to them, which were given to me by my kids and friends. My son Kane and Plop loved the bells. That’s why I still wear them on my Doc Martens. Kane also had dreads when he first started school, but he was such a pretty boy that a lot of the other kids thought that he was a girlie. This upset him, so we cut them off and I sewed them in to my hair too, which made him happy again! In order to have the ‘best’ dreads, they can’t be washed! I would use a Jif lemon, twice a week and rub that in to my scalp. To keep the dreads matted, involves constant ‘twisting’ of them – and that’s what I did! I would also wrap pretty coloured string round them. They were very heavy. When at home, I would have to roll them up in to some kind of bun and have them balanced on top of my head. (It’s not easy for us women!)
When I had to have my Chemo, the time was right to cut them off. Another reason was that they were part of ‘Dawn’: my life had moved on and I had become Rachael! They weighed a mighty 3lbs 7oz!! That was twice the size of Kane, when I gave birth to him! I have kept my dreads. I tried a few times to throw them away, but can’t bring myself to…x x
