A couple of months ago I was chatting long distance with my girlfriend Cheryl. She's an old h.s. friend... and a romanticist, which I treasure about her. I was going on about losing my hair, wearing wigs or hats blah blah blah. Cheryl simple stated that if she was going through, what I'm going through, she would wear her bald head as a badge of honor.
Her words permeated with me. They have transformed my bald-headed embarrassment into an opportunity to make people aware of breast cancer...
My head is my pink ribbon.
But can I go the whole day, a week, the entire month of October for breast cancer awareness without a hat, a scarf, a wig?
I'm pondering the idea. And it scares the crap out of me.
I barely have the courage to take off my hat in public. Yes I briefly take it off, give my over heated body some relief, but I do so quickly. I do so timidly. I do so somewhat privately. I do it when it's safe. I do it when few people are around.
It's not easy for me.
Cheryl called it my badge of honor... I think it's my responsibility, my honor to educate, to continue teaching.
It's much, much easier for me to bare my soul than to go bare headed. But I'm seriously considering it, because it just may help others take their own breast health seriously.
It may just be the in-your-face reminder to call and schedule your mammogram.
It may just give you the kick-in-the-spanx to do your monthly self exam.
It may just save your life. That's no little just. #Itsavedmine.