RECENT PICS & STORIES, TAKE 4!

On Easter, I decided to use a little bit of red gel in the cross design I’d been growing:

Remember how I said I’d grow a mohawk once I reached $1500? Well on the Wednesday after Easter, a friend at my running club (AREC) helped me reach this goal!

So I still had one funded design to carry out. It was this one:

I decided to focus on the two sides, since I had already started growing hair in the front, for the mohawk. When I drew out the design on my head, it looked much better to make these “rays of sun” into stars:

Since my mohawk was growing out, I thought I’d have a little fun with it:

Bleach time! 5/5/11

Had to do it twice to get it blond "enough"...

Then, I shaved the next funded design, a repeat. Remember this one?

Back to Life is my friend’s chiropractor company. She’s helped me out a lot, especially when I misaligned my back doing none other than…shaving the left star onto my head! I felt that adjustment immediately when she found the 3 bones I had popped out of position. Whew! That’s enough to earn another “advertisement” on my head! This time, I had to separate the letters, so as not to disturb the mohawk:

5/5/11

5/10/11

5/10/11

So it seems like a lot of my stories come from Starbucks. It’s fair to say that I’ve gone there a lot recently, partially because I keep meeting people! The other day, I held the door open for a guy on my way out. He did a double-take, and said “Whoa, you got it goin’ on!” One of the more unique reactions I’ve gotten!

I worked (passing out CLIF bars) at a bicycle race in Dana Point last weekend, where I also met a LOT of people. One group invited me to write my name on a banner that they had, that later they would take on the bicycle course. The group is called Break Away From Cancer. Although I had told them the reason for my bald head was not cancer but a fundraiser, they still felt a connection, which I thought was pretty cool.

Also at the bicycle race, I met a really nice local family. One of the women (who appeared to be the mother of the group) smiled at me, and the first words out of her mouth were “Are you a survivor?” This is the first time anyone has ever just asked me that, point blank. I knew instantly that she herself was a survivor, so we each shared our stories.

In both of these cases, when people thought I had cancer, I was amazed at the gratitude they had. With simply their smiles and acceptance, they thanked me for shaving my head, and honoring people with cancer through this. With words, they thanked me for donating my hair. To me, it was such an easy thing to do, and I don’t really think much of it any more. It’s great to be reminded of how little things can make a big difference. I know this happens at work on a daily basis. Sometimes it helps to take a step back and see the whole picture.