A Month of Thankful: Day 11

Hair.

This time last year, my Mom was diagnosed with cancer - non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. A year ago today, my youngest nephew was born.  My brothers and I ran from hospital to hospital, visiting Mom and visiting Mark.

By Christmas,  had doctors had put her on some serious chemo.  As in "blow-her-immune-system-into-another-galaxy" chemo.  Obvious side effect: hair loss.  We joked about her wigs -- she had the best "hair" of all of us, with no fuss. The hardest part of getting her hair to co-operate was deciding which wig to wear.  We teased and asked how formal of an occasion was something -- was she planning to wear her "everyday" hair, her "dressy" hair, or her "party" hair? 

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Mom at Luke's graduation - with her "formal" hair.

A year later, she's doing awesome. The chemo worked (thank God!) and she's getting back to "normal."  Her hair is also growing back in.

Today was Mark's first birthday and party.  When Luke went to say goodbye to Mom, they were standing nose-to-nose.  When we looked closer, we realized he is the same height as her body.

5 months later...

But in our family, you don't cross the threshold into "not a kid anymore" until you are taller than Grammy's hair.  He still has a couple inches to go.  I'm thankful he's still "little," but even happier that he's shorter than Mom's *hair* and not her wig.