The Moment You Have All Been Waiting For.....

MARA'S HAIR SHEARING EVENT!!!!! Okay - I first called it a head shaving event and then I hesitated to be so radical for three reasons: (1) the radiation team was concerned my face mask would suddenly be loose (I honestly don't think that's possible -- it totally mushes my face); (2) when hair was falling out due to my breast cancer six years ago, I shaved my head too early and the hair grew back all stubbly; and (3) Why not be a bit more gradual? The purpose was not waking up with all my long hair on my pillow.

So yesterday was FABULOUSSSSSS! My godmother, Aunt Mary, threw the PERFECT party for me (she has always understood me well). And, it just so happened that Aunt Mary's cousin Katie (also her roommate) had a friend in town, Stacey (whom I knew) and who HAPPENS to be a professional hairdresser! That means that I got away with a normal cut.

Over 20 people came from DC, NYC and even, yes, Mexico, Jordan, California and Canada for this party. Talk about surprises! I broke down in tears: The first person I see out of the corner of my eye when I walked in was a little girl -- who I immediately recognized but couldn't put into context -- it was my goddaughter, Audrey Hamilton, whom I had hadn't seen in four years!!! She is now seven -- a gorgeous, grown (growing) little girl. Then Linda and Jack stepped out and it all fell into context. The Knight family had a great contingency with the three Hamiltons and Janet and Alyssa! I also had my cousin Jamie here representing the Galaty's from Montreal -- getting away while in the throes of finishing his master's thesis at McGill. Peter Malnak represented all my friends and colleagues in Amman at the party. One of my oldest friends Rob, who leaves on a Foreign Service assignment to Egypt in little more a than week, and his partner Patrick flew back from a vacation in Buenos Aires and came directly to the party. It seems unfair not to mention the many other people who joined from DC and New York but I am not going to make a list. Suffice it to say that each and every friend and family member there was someone special to me.

The party was at lunchtime and the highlight was the hair shearing. First I sat in a chair, tied my hair in a pony tail and had every person present cut a chunk of hair off my head. It felt like everyone was cutting from exactly the same place but that didn't turn out to be so. David had the first hack, and so on and so forth. Then I disappeared into the bathroom with Stacey for the "the shearing." Of course many people came in and out. The most important helper was Audrey who dusted the hair off me with lint roller as soon as it fell! It was a liberating feeling seeing my hair fall away. Personally, I like myself much better with long hair -- but as we know (or I do) hair grows back. So why not go pixie 'til it all falls out? Here is a chronicle of the day. Pics include: David and me in the morning checking the blog, pics with hair before the party, pics of people cutting pieces off my head, pics of the haircut itself, pics of the aftermath, pics hanging out, and importantly -- this morning realizing that short brings new meaning to the word BEDHEAD. Jay and Tine -- if you are reading this in Amman, Tine is my new hair rolemodel! Oops -- I can't fit all photos on to the same post so this is going to be a bit turned around -- anyway -- you will figure it out.