It has been a long time since I posted anything but I felt compelled to write a short post.
Tonight at the gym, I wore my hot pink survivor T-shirt from the Sacramento 2012 Susan g komen race for a cure. After my workout, I stopped at rite aid to pick up something to drink - which by the way, Sparkling Ice in pink grapefruit is delish! Anyways, I go to the cash register and the girl behind the counter asks me if I am a breast cancer survivor. I told her yes, I am a survivor. She looked me in my eyes and said, "I have never met a survivor." I said, wait, what? She said that everyone she has known who had breast cancer died. She said breast cancer runs on both sides of her family and that she is having a biopsy tomorrow. She said seeing me in my shirt gave her hope.
What is interesting is that earlier I told my coworkers I wear the shirt so people know why I look the way I do. The shirt represented what I wanted people to see when they looked at me, when they looked at my crazy hair, or last year, my flat chest. It was all about me and my appearance and what i thought people thought when they looked at me. The girl at rite aid unknowingly put me in my place. What i had thought my shirt represented was selfish. It was all about me and my appearance.
Now, i realize it's not about what this shirt represents for me. It's about what it represnets for others.
And tonight, for the girl at rite aid, my shirt represented hope and survival.
