Thursday, April 8, 2010

put it behind you

this must be another phrase they teach you in med school because i have been hearing it a lot from doctors and nurses since i approached the end of radiation: now you can put it behind you.

but when i ventured once again into walmart, this time without a hat or a scarf, with only a quarter inch of hair between my scalp and the world, a woman passed by and said, "i had a haircut like that--twenty-eight years ago. good luck!" and patted my hand. 

if after twenty-eight years she still felt compelled to reach out to me, i'm not sure you ever really put it behind you. unless maybe it is like your own shadow--behind you and mostly unnoticed, but attached to you... forever.

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