Teresa's Donation

You're getting some bonus posts tonight because I won't be online much during the Triduum and Easter. :)

I have to say, I am SO INCREDIBLY PROUD of Teresa - she did the most amazing thing this past Wednesday.

She had been asking me for a little while now to let her have her hair cut shorter. She wasn't sure how short, but she has a friend here in Tucson (the daughter of one of my new co-Leaders) whom she idolizes, and she wanted her hair cut kind of like this little girl's 'do. I cautioned her against trying to look like someone else, since I have gone through this myself. My mother still reminds me that I went off to school and decided I *had* to have my haircut like Jamie Greenberg's. Well, Jaime Greenberg was a very petite little thing with a great face for extremely short hair - and I....was neither. Of course, I had all my hair chopped off, looked awful, instantly regretted it, and cried for months while waiting for it to grow back.

Moral of the story: if you're going to make a major change to your appearance, do it because you think it will suit you, not because you want to look like someone else. Or, if you must do it to look like someone else, at least pick a "someone else" who shares at least some vaguely similar characteristics with you.

So Teresa kept asking, and I kept putting it off. I was so torn - I LOVE long hair, I think it's beautiful and feminine and fun to style, and she'd been growing it for years. She looked so pretty with long hair, and always got compliments on it. I was afraid she's regret cutting it, as I had. But I started to realize that Teresa is getting older, and that maybe the time has come for me to allow her to make her own decisions in areas like this.

Well, this whole ongoing hair discussion came to a head when Teresa heard about the charity Locks of Love, with which a local salon participates. For those who don't know, Locks of Love is a national organization that accepts donations of hair from people, mostly other children, and turns it into real-hair wigs for kids who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy. As soon as she heard about it, Teresa said, "Mommy! I want to cut my hair REALLY short and give it all to a sick girl who has no hair from that medicine!" I started crying right there in front of the hair salon. I was SO impressed and proud of her. How could I say no? After all, she not only wanted to do this to look beautiful, she wanted to do it for such a beautiful reason.

So, they measured her hair to make sure it was long enough (they need a minimum of 10 inches of length to make a wig), braided it and banded it on both ends and cut it off in one big piece before the stylist went back and evened it out and shaped it. (I was trying not to look!)

They took Teresa's name and our address and said she'll get a thank-you note in the mail.

Teresa has had extremely long hair for as long as most people who know us can remember - letting her let go of that was like admitting to myself that she's growing up, and admitting that she's really becoming her own separate person.

I couldn't believe it - but my little, or not-so-little, girl looks even more gorgeous than before - not only does her new haircut really frame her face beautifully and show off her eyes, but she looks radiant from the inside, so proud of herself for what she did.

I promised her I'd post this here to tell everyone what she did for another child she'll never know - and also show off how adorable she is with her new look!