Laurel finally embraces her "pixie" hair style after countless attempts at growing it long. She talks about vanity and how she envied girls with long hair. After her butchering at the hands of an Army barber, she learned how to cut her own hair, and is grateful for the money she has saved over the years.

When her mother gives her a shoe box full of her father's letters home during World War II, Laurel realizes she never really knew the man who eventually became her father. She shares her thoughts about what her father was like as a very young man by reading one of his first letters.

Laurel makes an important discovery when she takes her baoding balls on a morning run and drops one. Her brainstorming about balls takes her back to childhood memories.