What Happened to Your Hair?

I went to the DMV today to renew my driver's license. The last time it was renewed was in May 2006, a lifetime ago. When I had two living children, when I had a job at Sony Ericsson, when I had a completely different perspective on the world, when I had hair.

The man behind the camera looked at my old license picture and said "what happened to your hair?" I didn't respond. It didn't seem like the appropriate time to explain that I shave my hair in honor of all of the kids that don't have a choice in losing their hair to childhood cancer. Although I usually do when people comment about my hair. Although typically people are usually much more polite about it. It wasn't until I was driving back to my office that I started to get angry. Angry at the DMV man and angry at myself. Angry at the DMV man for being so rude. What if I had lost my hair to chemotherapy? What if I was an emotional wreck and his comment was all I needed to put me right over the edge? He was completely rude and thoughtless. However, I was actually more angry at myself. You see, I use my hair (or lack of it) all the time for my benefit. First, there are the people that ask me if I have cancer. To those people, I use it as a marketing tool. I say, "no, but let me tell you about the children in North Carolina that do have cancer" and then I tell them about Striving for More and the work that we do to help the children and their families. Then there are the people that don't say anything and I guess assume that I have cancer. Ever since I started shaving my head, strangers are generally much nicer to me than ever before. It was odd at first but now I have embraced it, enjoy it even. That is why I was angry at myself today. If I am going to accept the perks of this hair, then the least I can do is speak up when people are being thoughtless and rude.

To my friends who have lost their hair to chemo... I apologize for the inconsiderate people who say rude things to you and I promise to speak up next time someone says something thoughtless!