bald, bold, beautiful...

Bald.
Bold.
Beautiful.

3 words that most certainly describe my sweet Caroline.

When a little girl is bald, I suppose people expect her to be shy and withdrawn.

Or sick and ashamed.

I can tell from their reactions they don't expect the active, energetic, well-spoken gal that she is, and often times it's like strangers have no idea what to think of us!

Caroline would, of course, prefer to have hair.  (What girl wouldn't?)  She tries not to let the long, confusing stares from little kids hurt her feelings, but that's what bothers her the most.

What bothers me is when I see mothers shushing their children and whispering into their little ears to attempt their best explanation as to why my daughter has no hair.

Because I'm 100% sure that explanation is WRONG everytime.

My daughter is not sick.  She doesn't have cancer.  She's not in treatment.   We're doing just fine, thank you very much.

I wonder if any mom would simply answer their child's questions similar to how I would if I was in that situation?  "Yeah, I see that girl!  She doesn't have any hair, and I'm not exactly sure why- sometimes it means someone is sick, but not always- but God made all of us different and special, and isn't she beautiful?  She looks very nice.  Shall we go up to her and tell her 'hello'?"

Moms, let's teach our children to see differences as NORMAL.  They take their cues from us.  Let's teach our children that everybody's got something that makes them different, whether it's something we can immediately see with our eyes or not.  Let's model to our children what it looks like to lovingly approach others who are different with respect and a willingness to listen to their stories.  

It also bothers Caroline when people think she's a boy.  She is almost always wearing skirts and dresses, pink and purple, and yet people still think she's a boy.  Thankfully she understands that most people don't even know what alopecia IS, and that unfortunately she's going to have to do alot of explaining throughout her life.  (I'm sure that gets really old.)  Maybe one day, with enough awareness out there, there will be a category in people's minds for alopecia.

But even amidst all the challenges of alopecia, Caroline's very comfortable in her skin and likes some of the advantages a bald head brings...

(these are the good things about alopecia according to her)

1) no lice  (ha ha ha!)
2) your head doesn't get so hot under all that hair
3) hair never gets in your face
4) you never have a bad hair day (ha!)
5) you don't have to shampoo or style it, you can just wake up and go!

My daughter is bold and confident, and I pray that doesn't ever change.  God has gifted her with a beautiful inner strength, impeccable verbal skills, and not to mention gorgeous outer beauty that will serve her well with this condition.

She knows alopecia is a part of her, but it's not HER.

Who needs hair to be beautiful?  She rocks the bald.

And I couldn't be more proud.