Friday, June 25, 2021
I took the afternoon off today to join my mom and Jessa in Champaign to meet with a wonderful leukemia survivor, Macy (gotta love that name) who is a hairdresser and a friend of my sister’s. Macy offered to help me get comfortable with my wigs.
Wigs are hard y’all. They’re hard to buy because you’re most likely shopping online and you don’t know what color, style, size, etc. will work best for you. They’re also HOT, and itchy. Like really hot, and really itchy - and it’s summer - so wigs and summer, not a great combo. But I’m hopeful that with some help from Macy, I’ll start to feel more comfortable with sporting these new accessories.
Meeting Macy brought me so much joy - not only is she a survivor of what could be considered one of the scariest forms of cancer, leukemia, she’s also currently pregnant! She’s young and beautiful and kind and her story gives me so much hope. I sat down in her chair and removed my hat. This was the first time I’d been in public with my shaved head. I was very aware of everyone’s eyes, it’s hard to not look at someone with no hair, to not wonder why… I was probably imagining most of it, but even in my head it was anxiety inducing.
But after a while, I stopped noticing. Macy started putting my wigs on, trimming them up, shaping them out, showing me how to adjust them, teaching me about maintenance and how to try and make them more comfortable. And as she worked we talked about her battle with cancer.
She was even younger than I am when she was diagnosed, and had literally just gotten married, talk about putting those vows into play right out the gate. Her fight was long, years long, and it brought many challenges - but she beat it, and it has only made her stronger. She is fierce and I felt so lucky to have met her. She understood where I was at in my walk, the pains that not many can empathize with, she lived over and over again and helped me to believe that life after this can and will be more beautiful than ever.
I left that day so thankful for the people that God continues to place in mine and my family’s lives. People that are literally carrying me through this fight, renewing hope and restoring faith with every chance encounter. I mean really - my sister met Macy randomly at a birthing class. The odds that they would strike up a friendship, learn about each other's lives, have something so specific in common just at the right moment in time - can only be orchestrated by our Heavenly Father. All I can say is, keep it coming, God - I’ll take all the help I can get.
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