here is how i remember it. my hair smelled like chlorine from our morning at the pool and i grabbed a towel on my way to the shower. as i passed the mirror i couldn’t help but be impressed with my new waterproof mascara. not a smudge of black underneath my eyes, nice. i turned on the water and while i waited for it to heat up, reached for my iphone. i thought jay-z’s empire state of mind would be a nice touch to my bathing experience. i turned it up full blast. the water was tepid and i like it to nearly burn my skin so i tapped on my inbox icon. a new message from amy. i was expecting a note from her, one that said the lump she found in her breast was a cyst, a clogged milk duct or some other type of benign mass. but her email had words like cancer, aggressive, invasive, lymph nodes. i reached into the shower and turned the faucet until the water stopped dripping. this can’t be right. she’s 31 and married with an 8 month old baby. jay z kept singing about how the streets of ny would make me feel brand new and i wanted to hop a plane to see if that was true. how can this be so? i mean, she only eats organic food and makes her own granola. i hit delete and hoped that erasing the words was all that it would take to make this news go away. i went to my contact list under favorites and touched her name. ring. ring. ring. ring. hello? it was her and then it was real. it’s stage 3, aggressive breast cancer that has spread into her lymph nodes. she will need chemotherapy, radiation and a double mastectomy. to read more about her story and her unbreakable spirit visit her caring bridge site at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/amypatwa
she wanted to have a head shaving party to beat chemo to the punch. invite 10 of her closest friends, drink some wine and shave her hair off before she began to find clumps of it on her pillowcase. my amy is brave like that.
i love her because she’s not afraid to invite people in, even to her scariest spaces. because she’s as confident as she is vulnerable. because her face is a masterpiece of freckles. because she finds her true identity in Him. because the way she looks reflects who she is not someone she wishes she could be or someone she thinks she should be. just her. beautiful her.
we had yummy cake made by the sweet and talented tricia at http://somethingsweetcakery.blogspot.com/
her sister, julie, getting her hair sprayed pink
amy made her rounds making sure we were all ok. that's just how she is.
my favorite moment of the night is captured in this next image. a dear friend of amy's began to cry when we were getting ready to start the head shaving. without missing a beat, amy jumped behind her and enveloped her in a big hug, wiping her tears and telling her that it was ok.
we cut her hair with scissors first before we moved on to the razor
her head was so soft that we couldn't keep our hands off of it. consequently, her face was so beautiful that we couldn't keep our eyes off of it either.
after her head was shaved, she opened gifts. new earrings, books, hats and scarves.
i'd covet your prayers for my friend and her husband adam as they enter into what will surely be the most challenging year of their lives. and also for their daughter, charis, who has this to say about cancer:
dear amy, i love you. i think you're the bravest girl i've ever met. you have been given an amazing gift to illuminate a room with your joyful spirit. it's beautiful. there is also beauty in your grief. allow your heart the chance to grieve and breath. hiding it can deprive your heart of air. your heart is beautiful to me. and so is your baldy head. xo, jen
by jen
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