I had forgotten how humble this makes me feel

I wasn't going to post today, but I had a fellow blogger comment on an older post that got me to thinking. Many of you may not know the story or the reason why behind Olivia's dedication and continuous donations to Locks of Love. So I wanted to share the story, even as her Mother this example of unselfish love for others amazes me.

We start our story in Sept. of 2004, Olivia was 5 years old.

Olivia had a friend, Davis, a 4 yr old that was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma. He was not expected to live through Christmas. This was very difficult to explain to her. Why wasn't Davis going to be in school anymore? Why does Davis hurt? When will he get better?

My precious little girl had suffered the first blow to her innocence and cruelty of life. We prayed and I explained that was all we could do for him. That God loved him and would do what was best and that God knew better than we did. Still a lot for a 5 year old to take in.

Little did I know that she had a plan, she would in her innocence consult someone with the ability to "fix" it. Santa. After all, in her 5 years on this Earth what had he not granted her that she wanted.

I was stunned as the following events unfolded, as were the other Mothers and Santa.

She sat in Santa's lap at Brookwood Mall and told him she did not want him to bring her anything for Christmas. She had a friend that was very sick, she crinkled her little nose and looked at me and said"what's that Davis has Mommy" I was so choked up I could barely speak and I looked at "Santa" and whispered terminal cancer. She continued on, she said if he would make Davis better she would go without any toys and he did not have to bring her anything. Santa through his tears told her he would do what he could, but that God was the only one with the power to grant such a beautiful Christmas wish. He went on to tell her that lots of children that are sick like Davis often ask him for hair because they lose theirs. He stroked her long beautiful hair and said you and I together could give them that. We made the appointment the next day. She cut off her hair, her trademark that everyone admired, in honor of her little friend Davis. Who by the way did see Christmas that year, and all that followed. He beat his cancer.

Olivia grows her hair out and cuts it over and over as a promise she made to help her precious friend. Every time it starts to get long again and becomes difficult to manage and the tangles take so long to brush out, I say we are going to get it cut and we have done this enough. Olivia reminds me that she suffers for just a short while until her hair is short again. The child that it goes to suffers a long time and her hair makes them feel good. If only we could all have the unselfish love of a child. Thank you so much for letting me share. I had forgotten or rather taken for granted what an awesome little girl and story this REALLY is.

In Him,

Jessica