STRENGTH IN BEAUTY

Six months... A lot can happen in just six months. 
It was mid February and my boyfriend's mother, Anne Marie had woken up not feeling well. She had a severe headache and was starting to lose her balance. Shortly after telling her family about how she felt, a blood vessel bursted in her head and she passed out. While unconscious, her mother and her son tried to carry her to the couch while her daughter called 911. She remained unconscious until at the hospital, where she was sedated. It was a scary moment for her family. No one was sure what was happening. 
The next morning Nic received a phone call from the doctor. They needed to put a tube into his mother's head to drain the blood out of her brain. In order to do so, they would have to shave the hair off the top of her head. Nic knew that this could save his mother's life. 
After  6 weeks of Intensive Care and in-hospital rehabilitation, Anne Marie was able to go home. She had gained back a lot of her physical strength and her brain was connecting more and more each day. She had realized fairly quickly that the top of her hair was gone. She told me that she was feeling like she had lost part of her womanhood. 
Sometimes we focus on our physical appearance to define ourselves as women. Long hair, big eyelashes, full lips, big breasts... All of these are a part of the idea of femininity. Although I struggle with these thoughts occasionally as well, I try to remember that who I am, along with the beauty that I possess, isn't determined by what I look like.
Anne Marie is a fighter. She is a woman not defined by her struggles but defined by her strength. I took her True Beauty picture exactly 7 weeks after her first day in the hospital. She could not be any more beautiful.
I am very impressed by the progress she has already made and can't wait to see how much more she will make.  What an inspiration! 

*She is Beautiful!*