Power of Optimism

One day after school in the 8th grade I went shopping at Borders Bookstore with my mom, brother and grandma. We were all browsing the books and talking when my mom's cell phone began to ring. She picked it up and after a minute of listening to the person on the other line her face went blank and she dropped the book that was in her hand. We all soon learned that my mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer. After the initial shock had passed my mom became very calm and believed that everything was going to be ok. She started to take aggressive action to conquer this disease.
While doing chemotherapy she began to lose her hair. As her hair started rapidly falling out she decided that she didn't want to resist the process, so her and my little brother went to the local barber shop and shaved their heads together. My mom would joke that she was lucky that she had a nice shaped head and that there weren't any warts under all her hair. Although this was a very hard thing for a woman to do, she remained optimistic the entire time. After a few days she noticed that my brother's and my friend's (who were 9 and 12 at the time) would look at her bald head with sadness or fear. My mom didn't want people to be sad because she was so confident that everything was going to be ok. So the next day our family went to a place that did airbrush tattoos and she had a vine of red roses tattood on her head. After this, people began to start having the same optimism that my mom had and little neighborhood boys wanted to shave their heads to "see what picture they have under their hair".
I look at my mother and think that she is a true leader. She exuded such optimism that it was hard for other people to not start feeling the same way. She also took a tremendous risk. Most women have a very hard time when they start losing their hair and often times wear wigs and hats. My mom embraced what was happening while also empowering others to do the same. The amount of confidence she had was unreal and this was communicated very clearly to others through her actions. I really look up to my mother and hope to someday turn into a woman as strong as her.

(I have attached photos of me and my mother after she had her head "tattooed")