http://www.blissful-wisdom.com/troublesome-critters.html

I don't know anyone who hasn't had a bout with the troublesome critters known as head lice.  It seems that no matter what the school, a plague of head lice seems to come knocking at some child's door every now and again.  My friend Bob was brushing his six year old daughter's hair when he noticed little Dianne had some tiny nits attached to her hair strands.  Anyone who's had this experience knows it is a pain in the butt to get rid of. 

Dianne's mom and dad were separated, so this time her father, Bob, had the honors of washing his daughter's hair with 'Nix' .  But both parents needed to clean all clothing, bedding, pillow cases and hats their daughter may have been in contact with.  This process happened at dad's cabin in Shawnigan Lake as well as mom's place in town.  They both did the lice removal thing and then left it at that.

Whenever Dianne would come for her weekly visits, Bob would often wonder how she kept getting sand in her eyes.  Dianne would accompany him to the lakeside on a regular basis where she loved to throw little rocks in the lake, but she rarely picked up any sand, it was the small pebbles she was after.  Meanwhile, Bob would settle down on the nearest log and just sing some songs on his guitar.   This was something they often did; at the cabin Dianne might draw and color ever so sweet pictures, while her dad would strum away on his guitar. 

When it was Bob's turn to pick up Dianne for another weekend visit about a month later, his ex-wife informed him that the head lice had come back to haunt them!  That meant washing clothing and bedding all over again, along with shampooing Dianne's hair with 'Nix' once more.  Reluctantly, Bob had her long, wavy brown hair cut much shorter to ensure success. This was sad, because Dianne's long hair had been something to see. After their weekend visit, Bob drove Dianne home, glad to know that this time they had removed the little critters.   Or had they?

It was only three weeks later that Bob noticed that the head lice were back with a flair.  He wondered to himself;  "Why haven't these nits died off yet?"  It was after washing her hair and clothes a third time that Bob noticed Dianne still had sand in here eyelashes.   He grabbed a pair of reading glasses on the bookshelf and peered more closely at Dianne's eyes.  By God!  That wasn't sand in her eyes, it was the nesting lice that sat along the edge where the eyelid met the eyelashes.  No wonder he and Dianne's mom had such a difficult time eradicating the little buggers!

Bob ended up pulling the nits down off Dianne's eyelashes, one at-a-time, until the infestation was completely removed.  He told me his heart went out to little Dianne, who held back her tears and sat ever so still, while he used the tweezers as carefully as possible. 

He was so grateful to have taken a second look, albeit two months later, at the 'sand' in Dianne's eyelashes.  Though each of us has some interesting story to tell,  I would like to think that we can sit back and laugh about it all.  Life is so short.



Please note: (from Hanna in the UK) "Regular application of tea-tree essential oil to the scalp, massaged in, will get rid of them and also act as repellent.  Just dilute a few drops with water.
They do not get immune to it either!"