Life is all about perspective

Life, I’ve discovered over the past year, is all about perspective.  Our Lainey started losing her precious hair again back in March when she was hospitalized.  This isn’t necessarily “normal” during this stage of treatment, but it’s also not abnormal, at the same time, it was definitely an unwelcome surprise.  This time though, she was older and when we suggested cutting it all again, she said, “No way Mommy, my hair is beautiful!”  Who was I to argue with her?  So, for the past couple of months, she has held on to that last bit of her hair, literally.  She pulls down the little bit left on each side all the time, twirls it around her fingers and says, “Mommy, my hair is getting SOOOOO LOOOONNNNGGG, LOOK!”  Each time, I say, “Oh yes, it IS getting long and how beautiful!”

You see, on the very back of her head, all of the hair came out though.  I was standing behind her in the mirror one night recently, helping her brush her teeth and she pulled on those long strands and commented about how long her hair was getting, I looked at her reflection in the mirror and that’s when it hit me.  All she sees when she looks in the mirror is two long sections of hair on each side.  It does, in fact, look like her hair is much longer, from her perspective.  She doesn’t know that those two long sections on each side are all of it and she doesn’t have any in the back. 

That’s when I realized, life is all about perspective.  Tomorrow will be my last Herceptin drip at the cancer clinic and I hope, the last time that I will have to get anti-cancer drugs through a port.  It’s hard to believe that I started this journey a year ago.  When I did, I thought this would be the most awful year of my life.  A year later, I have a different perspective.  It has definitely been one of the hardest years of my life, but awful, I don’t think so.  I’ve been given the gift of perspective that few of us attain in life.  I’m crystal clear now on what’s important and what’s not, who I want to share my space and time with, and definitely who I don’t.  I’m so thankful for that perspective and the blessing it has been and will be for the rest of my life.  I’m a better wife, mother, friend and Christian because of it. 

So, my Lainey and I are a lot alike, we both see life differently than everyone else.  From her perspective, her hair is growing a mile a minute and from mine, life is abundantly full of hope, people are good and I am blessed beyond measure for all of the things that have happened to me over the past year.  What would somebody else say?  Doesn’t matter to me, from my perspective, simply put, Life IS Good!