Impulse

"What did you do!!!?" Says my 19 year old son, Ethan, after seeing my new hair cut. He was very upset. My only saving grace-he liked the color. Red, of course.

Yesterday, I made the impulsive decision to chop off most of my hair. My hair has never, in my entire life, been this short. Plus all 3 of my children  have told me that I MUST have long hair.

But there was a very important reason for my decision to cut my hair: Because my sister doesn't have any.

By the way, please don't tell my sister I wrote this, she'd kill me for being this transparent and to be honest, she really isn't the total reason I did it.

Allow me to begin at, well, the beginning of my story:  For many weeks I had been thinking about ways to show support for my sister as she fights breast cancer. I could lose weight-I have plenty. I could get more exercise, etc...and I confess, I was pretty much half-hearted about it all. Then I had a check up a couple of weeks ago. My blood-pressure is high. Not too high, but just out of the "normal" range. The doctor isn't too concerned, but I will need to check it in 6 weeks. She asked about my stress level and how much exercise I get. When I told her about life for the past few months, she understood. That was the beginning of a wake up call for me.

Then I did my first breast cancer walk last weekend. Jen, my sister, was there. She had a beautiful white and pink head dressing and was ready to walk the 5k. She had been in bed for 5 days after beginning a new chemo "cocktail." All I could think was...this is my baby sister-her stress level is 1000 times more than mine right now! If she can be here and do this, I need to do more. My body made it through the walk, but I huffed and puffed as my best friend, Olga, pushed me. And Jen just kept walking. After that, I whole-heartedly decided to keep up a walking regime-walk at least every other day. I need to be healthy for me, first and foremost, but I also need to be healthy for my sister.

The 5k was Sunday. I walked Monday. On Tuesday, I didn't walk, but I started thinking about my hair. What if I just cut my hair really short (Hey, I love my sister, but my hair is very fine. If I buzz it, it may not grow back!) and keep it short until Jen's hair begins to grow again? I talked to my friend, Amy, about it that night. She thought it was a great idea. Maybe I'll wait until Jen finishes chemo, then cut it. Amy reminded me that Jen doesn't have any hair now.

I wake up Wednesday morning and that's all I think about. I realize that if I don't do this now, I'll lose the nerve and not do it at all. I call Amy, thinking we'll go when she gets off work. Then I see my mom at Target and I tell her that I think I should go right at that moment (it was about 1pm) and she offers to go with me. On impulse, I just do it. I tell the stylist the story. She cries. After she cuts it, I cry. Hey-my hair is gone, what do you expect me to do!

So, it's time for life changes. Get more exercise. Be active. And get a hair cut every 6 weeks to keep it super short until Jen's hair starts growing back. I may need to get a job just to keep up with the hair cuts, but it will be worth it.

Yes, I love being impulsive.