Change

I love long hair and as a result of this love I have always had long hair. It may sound pathetic, but long hair is part of who I am. My dearest elder siblings, when I was young, would always tease me about my hair and would say that during the night while I was sleeping they were going to sneak in and cut it off. These threats always scared me silly, for you see I have no lock on my bedroom door. So as bed time approached I would cower under the blankets praying that they would have a heart and wouldn't take away my luscious locks.

(I just had to use that phrase!) As is turns out they never took a pair of scissors to my beloved hair because they knew that they would get into huge trouble with our lovely mother. So thanks to my mom for the past 18 years I have been

able to keep my long

hair.

However this month things changed. As I went about through my days this past month, I kept on running into charity's trying to get money for children in need. I donated money to a hospital at a gas station, donated money to a fund to help buy books for children, and also donated to a charity for helping find the cure for cancer. Then somebody brought up Locks of Love....

(I bet you can guess where this is going...)

Well long story short I have always wanted to donate my hair but couldn't stand to part with it. Finally the guilt of being selfish with keeping my long hair while there were children who were diagnosed with diseases that inhibited hair growth were wishing that they had any hair at all got to me. As I looked at the website and saw these children I decided to... *gulp* donate one of the things that I love deeply in my life, yup you guessed it, my lovely locks...

I called my cousin and told her of my plan. She asked when I wanted to do it and as I looked at my planner I said "Never." She laughed and said "How about Thursday?" I replied "Okay what time?"

It would be a lie if I said that my heart didn't sink as I heard and felt the scissors chop off 13 inches of my "long beautiful hair." But when the sadness started to engulf me I just kept on thinking about that little girl that would appreciate my hair much more than I ever could and suddenly, it didn't matter anymore.

Sure sometimes I get frustrated in the mornings when I am running late and can't just

throw my hair up real quick, but in the end it was SO worth it. Plus my hair grows quick. Give it 6 months and it will be pretty much right back where it was before I cut it off and sent it on it's merry little way to Locks of Love.

Now here is the snapshot that was inspired by these events...

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"Hmm... "she thought. "That's strange. Usually they just tell me my blood results over the phone. I wonder why I have to go in? Oh you know what they probably just need to ask some follow up questions, or maybe they lost my insurance information. Yeah that's probably all it is, something with the insurance. Nothing big. I probably just have a virus that they need to give me medicine for and in a week or two I'll be back to normal and while I'm in they'll just get my insurance information. Yeah, nothing to worry about. No biggie. Right?" As she stopped by the doctor's office on her way to work her heart started to pound loudly. She was sure that the people she was passing on the sidewalk could hear it. She opened the door and it made a much too cheerful "ding" to greet her. She signed in quickly at the front desk and within minutes her name was being called. As she walked back to a room where she would be meeting with her primary physician she couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't asked about her insurance. Maybe there was something wrong after all. What could it be?! Her hands started to sweat and she couldn't help the fidgeting as she awaited the doctors arrival. Disease after disease started going through her head. Was something seriously wrong with her? Was that why they had called her to come back in? As the doctor greeted her, her suspicions were confirmed. There was definitely something majorly wrong. He had a dark, gloomy cloud over his head and she knew that the words he was about to say were not going to be as simple as she had expected. This wasn't just a little virus. He opened his month and with dread he voiced the results of her tests. "I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid you have cancer." Her world crashed down on her as all of her goals and ideals for her life rushed out of reality into a world that she could only accomplish them in called "fantasy." Her eyes started leaking and a few sobs escaped her mouth. She took a deep breath, told herself that this was neither the time or the place and slowly lifted her eyes to meet her doctor's. She needed to be strong, she needed to stare at this new enemy named "cancer" and show him who was boss. A look of determination took over her and she asked

"So where do we go from here?"

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For any of you out there that are fighting cancer or some other life threatening disease, remember that you are loved and keep strong because "you're the man!" (or woman)

Don't give up!!!