Reflections 9/16/2020: I am FINALLY getting some brown stubble back on my scalp after the forest fire of cancer ravaged it to the roots! Seeing these pictures of verdant color in forests being reborn after horrendous flames stripped them of every semblance of life, sparks hope in my heart! Roots remain! Renewal can happen! Rapunzel will once again “let down her long hair!” (Eventually!🤓) Yesterday I sheepishly ventured out shopping without wig or hat to see people’s reaction to my noggin nudity. Picked obscure locations where I was unlikely to be recognized. Went well! No one fainted or vomited! Gave me courage to front familiar faces next. I think this might be more difficult for me than most people because my explosion of hair has always been a huge part of my identity. (My nickname in college was “Bush Woman,” even in an era of Afros and Janice Joplin frizz!) God, this stripping of identity handles has been hard. A firestorm of purging. Thank You that the first sprouts of new life are starting to emerge from the charred terrain of chemo! I will trust You for being my go-to Source of worth, beauty, identity and calling in this restoration stage of my life.