I’m not big on pictures of myself.  Never have been (as an adult, at least.)  I’m pretty self-conscious, and thus, tend to shy away from having them taken.  I know of at least one article out there on the interwebs that talks about how it’s important for you to take pictures with your kids and for them to see pictures of you as an adult. Not just formal family pictures, but everyday, no make-up on, real life pictures.  As I approach my surgery date, I’m trying to be more open to that – though I wish that wasn’t the reason for my change in perspective.  I have no idea what the impact to my facial nerve is going to be post-surgery.  As I look back on pictures from the last several years, I can see that when I smile, my right eye doesn’t close the same way as my left.  It’s not something that anyone else would likely notice, but I do.  My hunch is that Norman is to blame.

I continue to pray that the only side-effect from the removal of the unwelcome guest in my head will be SSD and nothing else long-term. I’m trying to keep my anxiety over the unknown that I cannot control, in check.  On a related note to that, the number of people who continue to come up to me and tell me they’re praying for me and my family continues to blow me away.  And I know it’s people’s prayers that are getting me through this time of waiting.  How appropriate that we’ve now entered the season of Advent.

The reason for today’s selfie is to document my current ability to smile as well as my new haircut.  I had coffee with a friend this morning and afterwards, instead of going home to pick up the house, I decided to shorten my locks.  I realized last week that when they shave the section of my head for the incision, my current haircut would look really lop-sided due to the layering I had.  I had about 4 inches chopped off and now it will hopefully hide the incision a bit better next month.