Filling buckets...

Well it is true...my wonderful Aussie hairdresser that is pretty cool and very real...he didn't mince words. My hair has thinned dramatically. To the point that he wouldn't color it and barely cut it yesterday. I have cried a lot of tears over this and you call me superficial, go ahead. It is my hair and I happened to like it. One feature out of two on me that I actually like. So I am pretty heartbroken. But, at least I am not going nuts too. Brandon had been telling me for days, oh your hair is fine, super thick. Ummm...not so much. My pony tale won't stay in...not good. So...I am not working on figuring out why. The common idea from all is that I am stressed. I am sure that is a big part of it, but reality is for 3 years now I have had the same stresses up and down and this has never happened. Never! Not even after kids did my hair ever do this. So I am scared and upset and unsure of what to do. Today I am starting to change my diet up...eat more protein and iron rich foods for a while. Ironically with my IBS I try to not load up on those things since it is harder on my stomach...so this shall be interesting. I have a dermatology appointment next week as a follow up for something else, but plan to get to the bottom of this while there. All I can do now is hope that it stops thinning, I learn why and that it is something I can change/fix so my hair can grow back.

A big thank you for to all of my wonderful friends that came to my rescue after the issues in the earlier post. I am so lucky to have such wonderful parents who listened to me cry about my hair, stress, guilt, etc and gave me what I needed, support and encouragement as well as a little bit of the "get your shit together" talk I needed too. My sister. April. Becky. Leslie. Countless friends that sent me notes and messages on FB and privately. Most of all Renee. Who tried to give me what she had hoped was great advice and it didn't get the reception she had intended...I know she meant no malice and I am thankful she is a good enough friend to have apologized and let me know she cared so much. Things like that in life are what make me smile and make me whole. Have friends that are real, there and sincere. In good and in bad. Who when a mistake is made, mine or theirs, is able to discuss it and move past it without drama, broken friendships or silliness. I wish more than anything that more of you lived near me. I miss my friends and I miss having them close. But, I know what a gift it is to have them at all and it is not lost on me that I have more than most. I am blessed and thankful for the people that do love me, do know me and are in my life for the long haul.

There is a book I read to Zach all the time....great book for young an old..."Have you Filled your Bucket Today" A personal Guide to happiness for kids. It is awesome. Basically it tells you that everyone in life has an invisible bucket they carry. We all want full buckets, that means we are happy. We can fill others buckets with smiles, hugs, nice words, kind gestures and so on. We also fill our own bucket when we are nice to other people and fill theirs. But we often dip into and empty other people's buckets with our behavior...sometimes on purpose and sometimes simply by not thinking about their needs and bucket. I love this book. I refer to it a lot with Zachary and plan to do the same with Erin. It is an easy way to think about the simple fact that we need to work on how we treat others.

I am as guilty as the rest, maybe more so of this. I have a lot to work on within myself and hope that I can start to be bucket filler more than a bucket emptier...