Monday, January 19, 2009

This is for Kim



One of my slowtravel friends, Kim is going through a series of very tough Chemo treatments for breast cancer. Sometimes when I read her blog I am overcome by how brave she is. She shares her feelings about treatment, having this disease and all the ups and downs that go with this journey. She is so so brave.
Because of Kim's chemo treatments she has lost most of her hair. She posted a recent picture of herself on the blog. The thing is this, even though her hair is mostly gone what you see is her striking smile. She has the biggest most beautiful eyes and her smile could light up a dark night. To me she looks very beautiful even though the hairs on her head are few. On Saturday, I watched a video of my friend John's mom, Chloe discuss her philosophy on life. Chloe was about 88 yrs. old at the time the video was made. The film reflected what a truly "positive" person Chloe was. During the video she told a short story about a woman and her hair. I would like to tell you this story and dedicate it to my friend Kim, another very positive and inspirational person, a champion surivivor! This one's for you Kim.

One day a woman woke up and looked in the mirror. There were only 3 strands of hair on the top of her head. Ooooh she said, " I wonder how I should comb my hair today?" "Well, I think I will take those 3 hairs and "braid" them!."
The next day the woman woke up and looked in the mirror. On that day there were only 2 strands of hair. "Well she said, "I think I should part them in the middle". On the third day she woke up and there was but a single strand of hair on her head. She said, "Well, I guess I'll wear a pony tail today!" On the fourth day she woke up and she was completely bald. She looked in the mirror and said, "Well today I don't have to worry about how to wear my hair!"


Sometimes things happen to us that we cannot control. Perhaps one way to make those times a bit more tolerable is to try to find the positives as best as we can and to build on that foundation for our strength and survival.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Barb. :)

Anonymous said...

I just love your blog, Barb. This is such a special blog post. I could not have said it any better.

I love the story about seeing the positive in everything. That has beens something I have had to work on and will remember this story the next time I face a challenge.

Anonymous said...

So well said, Barb! I'm continually amazed at how brave and strong Kim is, but I can't seem to express it as beautifully as you have just done!

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