Life at the Beach

Ever since I can remember, I have always loved the beach and always looked forward to our yearly summer vacations. The best things I remember were the early morning walks along the waters edge, while the waves were lapping and teasing your feet as if it's begging or daring you to enter the water. There was always a peacefuless to those mornings. You could wander and for miles without even realizing it because you were so deep in thought for so many different reasons. For me, it was always about calmness, peacefullness, and serenity.

And now it's still all those things but more. And the 'more' I'm speaking of is my life post Cancer and stem-cell transplant.  I look at those earlier days and think things were a little easier. Sure I still had to contend with the humidity and the havoc it wrecked on my hair. I still had to lather up in sunscreen to protect myself from the rays of the sun. But now even though I'm still battling those same issues, it all on a different level. It seems I have more restrictions. I've learned that life with wigs is not so easy as I thought it would be. I had the naive notion that it would be like Jane Jetson from 'The Jetsons' where I would put the wig on, whether it be real or synthetic, and go on my merry way looking perfectly made with every hair in place. Boy, how wrong was I.  The ocean elements wreck havoc on synthetic wigs. It's like the kiss of death to a synthetic wig and as for real hair wigs, it's not much better. No matter how much I style it, it just like your normal head of hair and has a mind of its own. But where most people can throw it up in a ponytail or clip it etc, you are very limited as to the styles you can do with your wig. I thought it would be easy to throw on a ball cap but because of the amount of hair, it's difficult to tuck behind your ears without the risk of your ears sticking out and making yourseg look like an elf. Or you could just let it hang as is with the hat and risk walking around looking like the lost relative of 'Cousin Itt' from the Addams Family.

So what about going wigless??? If I were someone who hasn't been through cancer and hair loss, I would probably think the same thing.  But when you've spent months and even years without any hair due to being ill, the last thing you want to do is go through it again when your somewhat healthy. I've had enough walking around feeling like a freak-factor with people staring and even whispering.

It's still all a learning experience and truly, I'm still new at this so-called 'new normal'. I'm optimistic that I will get it figured out. It's just going to take some time and patience, and for any one who knows me, my patience is very limited. But i will try my hardest to stay positive because I've been through one of life's most difficult battles, and even though I carry many scars, both mentally and physically,  I am thankful of its success and this new journey.