St Baldrick's or, How I Lost My Hair For a Good Reason

Three weeks ago, I sat in a chair in front of 300 people, and had my head shaved.

Even though I'd planned on having this done, had discussed it, thought about it, bought scarves, made jokes--half way through the procedure, I started to cry.  I had to take a minute and gather myself together, and remind myself, this is hair.  Nothing more nor less, and, you've raised a nice chunk of change for St Baldrick's Society, so, suck it up and get over it, okay?

Men go bald, and people don't notice.  Let's be honest, more and more men shave their heads now instead of the horrific comb over, and are good with the look. Hell, they're hot most of the time (I think of Stanley Tucci and Terry Kinney in particular...YUM!!) and it's accepted.  Women? Not so much.

I wore a scarf for around three minutes, then I figured, Fuck it... I'm going to rock the bald, and, I have so far.  Sure, I have to remember to put sunblock on my pate and, on occasions when it's cold I put on a scarf or even a hat--although they tend to slide down onto my face now.  No one says anything to me for the most part, and when someone does, they ask if I'm in treatment.  I'm glad to say that, no, I've been in remission for a few years now, then, I explain St Baldrick's and the great work they do there.

In fact, I've only had one negative comment--one that hurt, to be quite frank, and, one that came from a source I didn't expect.   It made me realise the person who wrote it doesn't know me as well as either of us thought.  I'm over it, although I must say I cried when I first read the mail.

Regardless... this is my new look for a bit.   I am glad I took this step, I'm glad I was able to be just a small part of the group that raised $600,000 in one event, I'm glad that I can say I did a good thing in my life.  We all need to do something for our fellow humans...to remind ourselves we are not alone and together we can do many, many things.   Cancer is an exclusive club, and, in my humble opinion, one children shouldn't have the right to join.  I do not understand how you can tell your child who barely knows their alphabet they are going to lose their leg.  Children shouldn't have to know more about their blood counts than they do their multiplication tables.  They should worry about how to beat Nana on Wii, if they can sneak in another hour before bedtime, how to kiss.  Puberty should be their biggest worry, not wondering if they'll make it to puberty.

If you are interested in donating, please go to www.stbaldricks.org.  Give a dollar, give ten... you are working towards children never having cancer again, and that's a mitzvah.