My physicals: The Braid of Miracles

This braid carries a story that began with my first chemotherapy session.

When I was told that I would soon lose my hair, I decided to cut my long hair before it fell out. I braided the hair I had cut and sent it to an organization that made wigs for cancer patients.

A little later, my own hair was gone.

For a while, whenever I wanted to feel like myself again, to keep my appearance, to walk into certain places without feeling that cancer was the first thing people would see, I wore a wig.

And that wig came from the very same kind of place I had once sent my hair to.

This is why this braid is not simply a braid of cut hair.

It is a circle of giving, receiving, and hope.

What I once thought I was losing became something I could give. And what I gave eventually found its way back to me in another form, when I needed it most.

For me, this is what a miracle can look like.

Sometimes, hope doesn't arrive as something extraordinary. Sometimes, it is woven quietly through the kindness we give, the kindness we receive, and the unexpected ways life brings things back to us.

The Braid of Miracles is a reminder that even when something seems to be ending, its story may not be over yet.

After completing the artwork, minor adjustments to the lighting were made in Photoshop.