PILGARLIC

March 16, 2010

Pilgarlic
\pil-‘gär-lik\ n 1a: a bald head b: a bald-headed man 2: a man looked upon with humorous contempt or mock pity

“It’s ok, he has no hair.” That was the running joke in my house whenever my dad looked befuddled at our latest joke or side comment. It wasn’t as if he had completely no hair or a receding hairline, he just had this wispy middle accompanied by thick hair on the sides…an unusual mix if you ask me.
My dad wasn’t always a pilgarlic (and no that’s not a rude name), I have seen pictures of his younger days in the islands and on the ships; his smile always escorted by a full head of hair. I spent the better part of my years (when I wasn’t teasing him) wondering why the hair had disappeared. It never looked odd to me yet I could not come up with a good enough reason, although old age had crossed my mind, but my dad was always a sprightly kind.
Over the years, we had our disagreements and arguments and we most certainly did not see eye to eye on many issues. However we could both concede that the absence of my dad’s hair was a pretty funny occurrence and was a permanent whipping boy for all of our jokes.
It never occurred to me that perhaps my dad’s hair loss had something to do with me…