Look good, feel better

Last week I was able to take part in a Look Good/Feel Better session that the American Cancer Society hosts for cancer patients undergoing chemo treatment. They offer these sessions once a month, free of charge, and all you have to do is show up at the appointed time. It's a WONDERFUL thing to be offered! There were only three of us who showed up, but we were all able to feel at ease with eachother immediately and compare experiences. We were all a little different with our surgeries and chemos, but the underlying emotion we all shared was that we wanted to LOOK and FEEL normal in the un-normal world we are currently a part of.

We all sat at a large table together, each with a makeup mirror, and then were all given a large lunch-sized bag, that was sealed closed, for only us to open. And when we opened them, it was like CHRISTMAS! Various makeup artists had enclosed their own special products in our bags...artists such as Bobbi Brown, Aveda, Clinique, Avon, Marykay...the list goes on! We had eye liners and eybrow pencils, lip glosses and lip liners, blushes and concealers and foundations, bronzers and eyeshadows, lotions and creams! It was unbelievable what we found inside our own personal bag! And it was all ours to learn to use and keep!

We were guided by a gentle and kind woman, who herself is a cancer survivor. She used to be a beautician, but now enjoys volunteering for the ACS and in other ways. She helped us sort through our goodies and showed us how to "grow" eyebrows again with the use of a pencil. She showed us how to put glows back on our faces, and smiles on our lips. All the while doing this, we were reassuring ourselves, and eachother, that we could still be US in another form. And we could totally BE OURSELVES with eachother, as we were all on the same journey. Off came the wigs and hats, and on came the sharing of ideas and questions...where to shop for wigs and hats, how to wear bras after mastectomies, what kinds of side effects did we have. We talked without embarrassment or feeling like we were different. We felt almost normal, in our own differences. It was very freeing for all of us to just talk openly and be GIRLS again, as we all put on our new makeup. Thank you, ACS, for letting us look good and feel better!