Good Days and Big Dreams

I realized today that everyone has bad days and good days. Bad moments and good moments. We just don't always take the time to recognize a beautiful thing when we see it. More often than not it is the simple things: a sunset, a kind word, a smile from a friend, that really make a great moment.

And than I realized; if these simple things make life so wonderful, why don't I take more care in what I do and say?  My actions and words could build someone up or tear them down.  Lift of their dreams so they strive to achieve them or break them down so much they don't even try.

Scary, isn't it?  To know we each have that much power.  Over others. And over ourselves.  And what we choose to speak can make all the difference in the world.

While I wouldn't tell a three year old they could fly, I would inspire them to dream about it.  Maybe someday they will become a pilot.  And what about my peers?  They have dreams too.  The ones spoken in hushed tones late at night.  Everyone has a secret wish.

I remember very clearly, many years ago now it was, when my mother decided to speak hope to one of my dreams.
"I would like to write a book."  I told her.
"I think you would be good at that," she told me with a smile.

So I tried.  I wrote stories, poems, journal entries, and songs.  And than one day I wrote a novel.  It isn't published yet or anything, but I am working on it.

I often think back to that time my spoke hope to me.  That was the spark that started the fire in my soul. I probably wouldn't write at all if she hadn't encouraged me.

Yet here I am.  Writing has helped me sort out all my feelings.  And it helps me learn about who I really am.

Thanks Mom

All I want for Christmas is my hair

Today I reached up to my head and ran my fingers through my hair.  I know most people do this without a second thought.  I was one of those people last year.  After I learned I would loose it all to the chemo, I was given hopeful news.

I can still remember the words of my sweet nurse Kelly when she said, "The chemo will stop and you will have a cute, short cut by Christmas."  Those words were my lifeline.  In March, Christmas felt like a long way off.

I remember gazing jealously at the women in shampoo commercials with their beautiful, long locks.  Even my friends and my own family became objects of my envy.  "Why did I have to loose my hair?" I would think bitterly to myself.  "I loved mine more than all of them together."

And I really did love mine.  I loved braiding it and twisting it around my finger.  I loved the complements people would gush to me,  "Your hair is so pretty and long!" I got that a lot.  But what I think I miss the most is tucking stray pieces behind my ear.  For some reason nothing made me feel more like a princess.  The Bible wasn't lying when it said a woman's hair was her crown!  And now my crown was gone.  And I felt very... ugly.

  Crying myself to sleep at night was only the tip of the iceberg.  My very soul felt smothered every time I looked in a mirror.  I even considered covering the mirrors in my room and not looking in one until my hair grew out.  It was one of the lowest points for me.  No matter how anything else was going, I just couldn't be happy because I didn't have hair.

  Sometimes I wonder how I got through.  Looking back I think I lived in the first state of grief: denial.  I shoved a hat or scarf on my head and just avoided looking in mirrors.  I laughed about my bald head with my friends but when I was alone I did my best not to think about it.  "Christmas," I would think to myself, "I will have hair by Christmas."

So here is December.  My hair grows again (though not fast enough for my liking).  I both love and hate my new do.  Love because it is hair on my head and it is mine.  Hate because it is only a shadow of what it once was.  But at least my wish came true.  I will have hair for Christmas.

One of the few wigs that I got.  Somedays wearing a wig helps me feel more normal.  Nothing could replace having my own hair though.  It is so cold today that I am happy wigs are hot!

About the Hair

So I want to talk about the other side of hair loss... Hair growth!  When that icky chemo finally stopped and my hair was free to grow again, alls I could think about was having my old hair back.  (I had hair down to my elbows before I was diagnosed with leukemia)  But here I am. 10 weeks out and increasingly frustrated with how slow my hair is growing.  I even had dreams of running my fingers thought my own long hair and would wake up crying because I knew it was just a dream!  

So how does one beat the slow grow blues?  I have come up with a few practical ways:

1. Once you hair starts growing take a picture of your head (or just the top of your head) every week.  Then make a slideshow in a few months.  Try not to look at pictures from only a week or so before because there isn't much growth.  But once you have about six weeks of pictures go ahead and look at your first one and compare it to now.  You will be floored how much it has grown in just over a month!

2. Treat you hair nice.  If you used to dye it or straiten your old hair a lot make a pack to be much kinder to it this time around.  Make an effort to heat treat it less or maybe not at all.  Plans will keep you excited about the future instead of depressed about the past.

3.  Look into hair extensions.  I am not talking about the glue in kind, i am speaking of the way cool clip in sort.  Much easier to take care of and better for your hair.  You can even buy them made from real human hair!  I cut off about eight inches of mine when i learned I was gonna loose it all and I found a youtube video on how to make my own clip-ins!  I see a tutorial in my blog's future!

4. Enjoy it while it lasts.  This one is the hardest to swallow, especially for those of us who loved our long hair.  But having short hair has a lot a perks: little to no bed head, don't have to brush or style it most mornings, and it doesn't get in my way.  Also, everyone I have talked to says I rock the short cut and I am sure you do to.  So remember this time fondly when you look back, your hair will probably never be so short again.

Do you have any ideas?