My 17-year-old son shaved his head for his sick girlfriend – The next day, his mother told me, "You have to come to the hospital to see what your son has done."
I watched it from the window.
***
Then, Lily's treatments began to leave visible marks.
She started to lose her hair. Even though she tried to put on a good face, everyone could see how much it affected her.
I was still digesting this change and its impact on Diane and her daughter when something else changed.
***
One evening, I was folding laundry in the living room when I heard Aaron's footsteps on the stairs. There was something different about his pace: slower and more measured. I looked up, and the basket slipped out of my hands!
Lily's treatments were starting to leave visible marks.
My son's head was completely shaved! Not just cut short, but smooth, pale, and strange in the light of the lamp.
"Aaron," I whispered as he walked downstairs. "What did you do?"
He ran a hand over his head, almost shyly.
"I knew you were going to freak out a little bit."
"A little? Honey, your hair! Why? I walked closer, reaching out before I could help myself, my palm touching that cool, strange skin where its curls once were.
"What did you do?"
Aaron didn't move away. He just looked at me with those calm brown eyes that had always seemed more mature than his age.
"Mom, Lily is losing her hair in clumps now," he said softly. "She tried to laugh about it last week, but I caught her crying in the bathroom when she thought I had gone to get coffee."
My throat tightened. I lowered my hand.
"It's just that... He continued, "I wanted her to know that beauty isn't in her hair. And that she doesn't have to go through it all alone. If she has to look like that, then so do I. That's all. »
I was speechless for a while.
Aaron didn't move away.
I just looked at my teen, who had somehow figured out something that most adults spend their lives trying to learn.
"You're a good kid, Aaron," I finally said, my voice choking. "You're really, really a good kid."
He shrugged, as if he preferred that I not make a big deal out of it.
"I'm going to go to bed. Tomorrow promises to be a long day. »
"Do you see her after class?"
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