Monday, October 04, 2010

Ode to mommy

Mom used to have really, really long, but curly hair when she got married to Dad. I hear that she hated it (but it was soo pretty). All during her college years, she tried a bunch of treatments and methods to straighten her hair, but it never did - it just stayed its stubborn curly self. Anyway, over the years as I grew, her hair shortened. Using one excuse after another, she would keep cutting her hair shorter and shorter until she finally had a close cut crop when I reached high school. But, man I totally loved her hair. What was funny though, is that I was born with the same stubborn curl. My mom was so mad when she saw my curls that she kept getting my head shaved when I was a baby. She said, she would keep doing it until the curls stopped and guess what, after 5 shavings, they did. I ended up with the straightest hair ever. And mom was happy.

A few years ago, mom was diagnosed with leukemia. My world turned upside down - because I or anyone else had absolutely no clue. As she started her chemo treatments, mom and i would joke that when she her hair would fall because of the chemo, we would get her a wig with totally straight hair and finally she would have her straight hair. We even debated on the length - i was all for short hair and mom for long :) But, the treatment did not have any affect on her. Mom lost her battle with cancer but she did not lose a single hair.

After mom died, for 3 years I kept growing my hair - first it was for the wedding hair style, then because I was in love with my hair, and most lately because I wanted to donate it. And last week, it reached the longest length it ever has in my life. So today, I chopped off 11 inches of my hair, finally, to donate it to Locks of Love.  As I was watching my hair stylist, I thought about all recovering cancer patients who lament the loss of their hair and I wanted to tell them to be glad that their hair is falling because it means that the treatment is having an effect and it means that they are on the road to recovery. I wish my mom's hair fell too.

Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. They provide custom-made wigs to children. This allows them the kids to boost their self esteem, regain their place in the society, and offer them some normalcy in their daily lives. If you can donate, I would encourage you to do so.

1 comment:

Rahul said...

Very moving Niki... May her soul be ever-peaceful... and may your hair be ever vibrant :)