Mahalo Beautiful Humans,

It never ceases to amazing me how each day can be so different from one day to the next. Even in the same day there can occur drastic fluctuations from the beginning of a day to end of a day!

I have two amazing daughters both in their 20’s. My relationships with both are strong, rewarding, challenging at times, and very different. I learn so much from my girls it blows my socks off😊 What I am proudest about is that they are good, kind people❤️

Last Saturday my eldest daughter went to get her hair colored. She has been wanting to experiment with a new hair color, which is part of the fun of having hair😁 This past  June she had strands of her hair colored to see what she thought of the color she had selected. She liked the color! Saturday was the full hair dye day⭐️  Sunday night her scalp was pretty itchy. She washed her hair and went to bed. Monday morning she woke up to having her head really, really, really (did I say really) swollen. Her eyes were almost swollen shut. She and her husband hurried to the emergency room. When I arrived to the hospital I walked right by my daughter as I did not recognize my own kid.

After an overnight stay at the hospital I am happy to report she is home and less swollen. It will take days to get back to her less swollen normal head. We did some googling about allergic hair dye reactions. It is  not that uncommon. While her reaction was severe we saw pictures of more serious, severe cases.  We feel fortunate as it could have been more worse!

There are many lessons to take in from this experience. First and most important is gratitude. Gratitude that her allergic reaction was not more severe which it could have been. Gratitude for all of the kind, helpful hospital staff who through all of my observations of sitting there for two days (and I love people watching) were respectful, kind, responsive to the medical needs of my daughter and to all others they were helping.  Everything happens in hospitals. Life, death, caring, healing, magic, miracles, sadness, pain, happiness and grief. The staff I observed had a passion and dedication to helping EVERYONE regardless of who they are and where they come from❤️ Hospitals are powerful reflections of how the world could be if we all worked together with care, kindness, and dignity and the focus to help one another.

Another lesson learned is to listen to yourself and your body. I say the next part in no way blaming my daughter, us, or the hair salon who did her hair. When she came home in June from having a few hair strands colored her scalp was itchy. She did not think it was a big deal. When she mentioned it none of us thought it was anything. We all gave lots of possible reasons for her itchy scalp. No one googled itchy scalp after hair dye.  It seemed minor and was easily dismissed. Paying attention to those minor, gentle, firm notifications that something is not right is important and valuable. It could be minor or not. Pausing to reflect about it will never do anyone any wrong.

No human being can go backwards in regards to the decisions we make. Great learning can come from our experiences as we go forward. Life is constantly presenting us with opportunities IF we choose to grab them.

Wonderful, bright, amazing humans you are important in the world and there is great value in what you bring to everyone. When there is a voice in your head or body is telling you something take time to listen. Could it be nothing…absolutely. Could it be something where intervention is required…absolutely😊 You know yourself better than anyone so listen to yourself❤️

Today I am attaching a TED talk by Matt Goldman called the search for the “aha” moment. Until I listened to the talk I did not know he is a founder of the super cool Blue Man Group. It is a super motivating talk!

Brilliant, bright, brave humans take great care of your amazing self💜