Stylized line drawing of mark playing the flute

Hidden perks of being a blonde kid

There were two main perks to being a blonde kid.

I always got to be Bo Duke when we played Dukes of Hazzard.

This didn't happen very often because I don't think any of us actually watched the show.

But we could pretend to drive a fast car and get away from the police.

Most importantly, I always got be Luke Skywalker when we played Star Wars.

And we were always playing Star Wars.

Somehow being blonde conferred on my friend Claire, the right to always be Princess Leia. We all knew Princess Leia had brown hair, but it didn't matter.

Claire was Leia and Leia was Claire.