She Gets It

Being a mom is hard. There is not an instruction manual that tells you when to say yes and when to say no. Every day moms are faced with hundreds of choices, large and small,  that mold our children into who they are and will be. 

Summer is here and our family is finally soaking in some downtime.  I have had time to decompress from a busy year of working and being a mom.  I want to share one of my proudest moments and I will share it using my child's words.

 Molly won a contest this year with an essay she wrote about winning choices.  I am not proud that she wrote it, or that she won, or that money came as the prize.  I am proud that she gets it.  She made a choice and walked in another person's shoes.... and she gets it.

I am happy that I said yes, I am proud that she took on the challenge and impressed that she put her thoughts down on paper.  My girl, she is special and she gets the bigger picture in life.  I am proud....

Winning Choices:

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Every year the Virginia Tech baseball team shaves their heads to raise money for St. Baldrick’s, an organization that is trying to cure cancer in children.  Last year my brother shaved his head with the Virginia Tech baseball team. I wanted to shave my head too but my mom said no.  This year when the time came again for the baseball team’s “Shave for the Brave” I told my mom I wanted to shave my head and raise money too.

            My mom asked if I was sure about it, and yes I was.  Being a girl it was a pretty hard decision to make.  My mom knew that I might get stared at or made fun of if I didn’t have a lot of hair.  But we talked about it and I know there are lots of girls my age who get cancer and their hair falls out during their treatment.  It would be silly of me to be afraid to shave my head when I am healthy and lucky to have that choice.  It would be much harder for the girls who are sick and don’t have a choice. 

My mom asked a lot of times if I was sure about doing this and I was so we set up an account on the website (www.saintbaldricks.com) so people could donate money in exchange for us shaving our heads. We put a picture of my brother and me together online and our fundraising page was ready!  It wasn’t long before the money started coming in.  

The money that we raised went to kids who have cancer. One kid, Levi, who lives fairly close to us, was being honored because he had cancer when he was younger.  He is cancer free now and his hair has grown back. The baseball team has sort of adopted him.  When we went to the practice field for Shave for the Brave Levi was there and we got to see him!  We got our picture taken with him and I saw that his mom was crying.  I think she was grateful that all these people cared so much about Levi and other kids that it made her so happy she cried.

It feels so good to know that we are helping other kids our age who don’t feel well.  Sometimes people do look at me funny or ask my mom, “is that your son?” Like one time I was standing in line at a restaurant and the person in front of me was staring at me.  I thought to myself, “Just because I have short hair doesn’t mean that I’m not a girl.” I am used to it now and it doesn’t bother me.  Hair isn’t important.  The important thing is that my brother and I raised $4,600.00 for cancer research!  I was so proud to be a part of it!  

- Molly McPherson