Great Lengths

My eldest daughter Hannah has been growing her hair out with the goal of donating her hair. I think she has been growing it out for at least a year now and she is only up to about ten inches. Cheerleading is only 4 months away and she wants to have enough hair for a ponytail. If we waited until she had the required 12 inches for Locks of Love it might be September and the hair might be completely chlorine damaged from a summer spent in the pool!

This past weekend we found out about Pantene beautiful Lengths ~ they only require a minimum of an 8 inch pony tail so we decided to finally get her hair cut. (I will post a picture soon.) "Pantene Beautiful Lengths was created to bring people together to share their strength and donate their beautiful, healthy hair to create free wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment." It takes about 6 pony tails to make a complete wig.

Hannah says that new haircut is very fierce and stylish ~ we think she looks a bit like Katie Holmes! By donating her hair, she feels like she's made a difference in the world and she hopes to encourage her friends to donate their hair some time soon.

HUGS

I saw this a while ago, Hug Someone Campaign. I was deeply moved by the effect it had on me ~ mostly because I am not a super huggy person by nature. From a very tender age, I've had personal space and intimacy issues. In the brain of a two year old, I learned very early on that when you hug on your big brother then they get killed by a horse. What kind of sense does that make now? It's completely ludicrous, I know, but survival skills are tough ~ they get emblazoned in our minds ~ our autopilot accepts them and they are very hard to purge!

So ~ after many hours of therapy, long talks with God and oceans of tears, I finally came to grips with the truth that hugging someone you love won't cause them to drop dead. TRUE STORY. OK ~ so I've given myself a reality check, but that still didn't make me instantly affectionate with others ~ it's a slow process. I've thought about this a lot lately mostly, because when I am in pain and struggling I push people away and pull back ~ I see the autopilot kicking in again. Survival ~ distance ~ set apart ~ detach ~ Most the time I feel that if I do let anyone in, allow them to comfort me or offer support, I just might melt into a puddle of tears.

OK ~ so why I can't I let myself fall apart from time to time??? I already feel like I have no control over myself anyway ~ the brain tail has totally taken over and I am grappling with trying to maintain some kind of control. I can hear you now, screaming at the computer

"you are a freaking delusional lunatic!!!"

I know I am ~ and I'm working on it already ~ My point is, we all need hugs for survival, SURVIVAL ~ So ~ here's my challenge 2 u ~ hug someone today ~ anyone ~ and I will do the same, because you know, we are ALL struggling in some area of our lives ~ either physically, emotionally, spiritually.

Make sure to watch this video below ~ it's awesome!