I went to the mall today to buy my husband a birthday present. Presents bought and time to spare, what’s a girl to do? Shop for herself, of course. I headed to my go to store - Chico’s. Besides loving the clothes, the main reason I love this store is I can tell everyone I’m a size 3! Now the sizes go from 0 to 4, which means size 3 is on the larger spectrum but 3 sounds better than 12/14. I'll take it!
Since, I’m a regular, the sales staff recognizes me. I shop and try on clothes and end up with a new pair of jeans (Size 2.5 – whoop! Whoop! – numbers are going down!) The sales lady takes my jeans and we head over to the register.
“Your hair looks different” she says. “Chemo hair”, I reply. “Breast cancer?” she asks. “Yep”, I reply, “second time through the shoot”. She stopped walking and gave me a hug. I’m a little surprised and then she says, “I’m a survivor too.”
We discuss our cancers and our treatments. She had reconstructive surgery prior to chemo and radiation. I ask her about the reconstructive process. It does hurt she says but it’s tolerable. (Okay that gives me hope). We discuss losing our hair. We joke about trying to apply eyebrows and eyelashes. She asks me how many years between my two journeys with cancer. Six, I say. Oh, I’m not happy hearing that, she says, I’m coming up on five years. You’ll be just fine I tell her. She’s almost five years out and looks fantastic!
We both discuss how a positive attitude got us through and how much we appreciate all that life has to offer. I leave with another hug.
I met a fellow survivor today. Someone that had been in the trenches. Someone who understood what my journey was like and just wanted me to know that you can get your life back. Today was a great day!

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