St. Baldrick’s – Going Bald for a Good Cause

I haven’t posted in a bit because I’ve needed to do this post.  And I’ve worked on it for a couple weeks, but then kept hemming and hawing and dithering and yoyo-ing and all kinds of other words that mean, “Alyssa is a big giant wiener.”

But, a wiener I am no longer.

(Except when it comes to spiders.  Eff those bastards.)

I am going bald for St. Baldrick’s.

Well, techinically.  I am participating as a virtual shavee for St. Baldrick’s, but I’m going bald for a lot of other reasons.

The first is for my beautiful little boy, who is not ill and whom I hope with every fiber of his being stays that way.  Just seeing a picture of his face not only makes me smile, but calms me in a way I didn’t anticipate when I imagined how being a mom felt.  His little goober grin makes the rest of the world make sense; he’s why I do will pretty much anything in my life from now on, either to make his life better or to make myself and the world a better place for him.  This is for him; he deserves a mommy who cares about others, and this is how I choose to do it.

This is for Lincoln, whose pictures I cannot look at without tearing up.  I was never privileged enough to know him, and had he not been a part of St. Baldrick’s Honored Kids, I would never have even heard his name.   But his smile and blue eyes are stunning, and I know they are even more beautiful up in heaven now that he is an Angel.  His picture is what got me to seriously talk about participating and turn from something that Liz did into to something I could do too.

This is also for Bennett, a lovely little boy who is in maintenance.  His big brown eyes remind me of why this important, why money is needed for research to keep big boys like him digging in the sandbox and having a blast with his grateful family every day.

This is also for Maddie and A Practical Wedding, whose post on Pantene Beautiful Lengths and National Donate Your Hair Day made me stop going back and forth and decide to  go ahead and to be a virtual shavee.  Normally St. Baldrick’s has shaving events every year and there is one in Dallas every March that I thought about joining.  However, National Donate Your Hair Day is September 7th; the close date and chance to be part of two great causes was enough of a kick in the pants to get me really going.

But this is also for Liz of happy sighs  and my friend Ollie.  Both of them participated in their own St. Baldrick’s event and their awesome words were enough to make me fill out the volunteer form and hit send.  Having them honestly talk about the ups and downs (and mostly ups) of being a part of St. Baldrick’s has helped me more than they even know.

So.  I’m doing it.  Hair goes bye-bye on September 7th, with most of it going to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.  I was nervous, but now I’m just flat out excited.  My goal is $1500, but whatever amount I raise will be worth it.

I’ll be talking about it for a bit on here before I do it, so you’ll have to forgive me.  I’d love it if you got a chance to donate, but I’d love it more if you spread the word.  Email out this post or my donation page, share it on Facebook, tweet about the crazy heifer who is chopping off her hair for strangers.  Getting the word out is important because there will be someone out there who will see it and donate more than you could because they have the means.  Or a parent who is having a hard time with their sick child will see the post and feel a little better about the world in general for a moment.  Or hopefully, someone will see the tweet, learn a little about the charity and decide to participate in a event as a shavee.

So forgive me for this wall of text, and forgive me any upcoming posts that will contain more about childhood cancer than they will about deadly lingerie and bewb cakes.  And if you have any questions, please email me!  I’ll be happy answer what I can, or do a post if you think others might have the same question.

Thank you, moppets!  Big hugs all around!