Head-shaving party

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago. Luckily they caught it early, so the doctors were able to remove the whole tumor surgically. She doesn't have to have radiation, but she has to have four rounds of chemotherapy. She has been extremely optimistic, cheerful, and matter-of-fact about the whole business, which, if you know my mom, is exactly the way she is through all trials. She doesn't indulge in self-pity, ever. If I could meet my own trials with the kind of strength and grace that she shows daily, I would be a much better person.

Since my mom knew she would lose her hair during chemotherapy, she contemplated dying it blue (when are you ever going to get the chance to have blue hair again?) but decided just to get a new haircut and plan a party. As soon as her hair started falling out, she called all my brothers and sisters-in-law and some other friends to come to a hair-cutting party. All of my nieces and nephews got to take a whack at her hair (after getting a long lecture about how they should never, ever, ever do this to their own hair or a sibling's hair), and when they were done, my brothers and I shaved the rest of her hair off. Then she modeled her wigs and some hats. And we partied.

For most of the party, my camera was in the hands of Alexis and Mackenzie, who are 4 and 5. I was hoping they would get some good shots, but I had no idea just how good the shots would be. For one thing, the little kids who hate to pose for pictures taken by adults were willing to grin for their cousins/sisters. Going through the pictures later (there were more than 200 of them), it was enchanting and a bit surreal to see what a 4- and 5-year-old find picture-worthy. I'll spare you the bulk of the pictures, but here are a few of them.

Eli never smiles, at least while I'm around, but his sister (and his dad, Jared) got a tiny smile out of him.















Lainey and Alexis join Grandma for a "before" shot.















A bunch of the grandkids are tickling Grandpa.















Me and Mackenzie making funny faces.















A group shot















A rare moment of sitting still: Alexis, Mackenzie, Lainey















Mackenzie taking her turn whacking at Grandma's hair















Luke's turn. I love this picture because it looks like she's trying to fight him off!
















My turn to cut hair...
















And the "after" picture with Mom modeling a wig. It looks great!