Well, I've made it 50 years. A half century of progress and tomorrow I'm calling it quits. I have very mixed emotions about not doing hair after all of these years but there comes a time when you have to look at the rest of your life and what do you want to do while you still can.

I don't regret quitting it is just that I'll miss the contact with the same people that I have done for over 35 and 40 years.

You don't have any idea that that first time you do their hair will be the beginning of a long relationship, you will come to know their families, be familiar with them, almost like your own family and stopping that connection is going to be hard.

But I'm tired and feel it is time to leave while I can do it under my own power and while I'm still good at my job.

I took the first State Board exam in the state of Alabama. We even took the exam in the House and Senate Chambers, sitting in the desks of the lawmakers. It was all written because they had no facilities for physically doing a model's hair so we had to draw the hairstyle, draw the setting and explain the cut. Then we also had to answer all the questions that pertained to the chemicals and the ones that were about techniques, etc.

It seems almost like yesterday and yet to say it has been 50 years seems almost impossible. Who would have thought when I started down this road I would continue for this long.

I've had a good career. I had my own salon for almost 10 years, I was in the Alabama Hair Fashion Committee, I had my Instructors license for about 15 years and have worked for a lot of people and I think that I would have been welcomed back to any of their salons. I never quit with hard feelings just with an opportunity to go forward.

I can look back and feel that I honestly gave it my best and it helped me to raise two children, buy a business, buy a home on my own and pursue my career. It was good while it lasted but it is time to quit.