DON’T DO DRUGS!

I believe in expecting the unexpected when it comes to gems of wisdom. Life’s lessons come in the most unexpected forms, so take what you can from both the good & the bad, and make the most of it.

One day I went to my daughter’s school to pick her up. A little boy was running through the halls, his mother not far behind him. He was probably around the age of four or five. When he spotted me, he stopped in his tracks.

“Are you a boy or a girl?” he asked.

I smiled down at him. “I’m a girl,” I answered.

“Then why don’t you have any hair?”

As the little boy queried me, his mother looked on in horror. She rushed forward with an apology on her lips, but I waved her off. Stooping down until I was eye-level with the inquisitive young man, I whispered. “I took some drugs, and they made all my hair fall out, so if you want to keep your hair, don’t do drugs!”

Jaw dropping, eyes wide, he whispered, “I won’t. I want to keep my hair.”  

As I rose to retrieve my daughter, the boy stared after me, and the look on his mother’s face was priceless. I’m not sure if she was in shock over her son’s questions or the words of wisdom I’d just provided. As far as I was concerned it was a life lesson I couldn't pass up. 

Was I being honest with her son? Yes I was. I’d taken drugs that made my hair fallout. What I hadn’t told the child was that the drug was chemotherapy. As far as the kid needed to know was that I’d taken drugs and they’d made me lose my hair. Did I shock him with my honesty? Probably, but I’m pretty sure that, that boy will always remember that if you take drugs, your hair will fallout. Maybe in the distant future someone will offer that young man an uncontrolled substance, and he will instantly say NO, all because some weird lady told him that drugs will make your hair fallout.