Today as I resized the pictures for this final reminder post in the Breast Cancer Awareness Month Sign Project and Giveaway, I got a little teary. I’m so used to seeing pictures of myself, but I almost never get to see pictures of you. In a way, it felt like the mirror turned into a window this month, and I feel selfish for making this about me, but it was wonderful and something I absolutely didn’t expect.
Most of the time when I blog it’s about makeup, a subject I love, but one that rarely lends itself to weighty contemplation.
And then it’s October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Sometimes it feels like the “cancer” part of that gets lost behind a veil of pink ribbons, but it’s there. And not just breast cancer. Pancreatic cancer, brain cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, other cancers — and words like malignant, metastasized, melanoma, ductal carcinoma — very ugly words.
Taker of mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, girlfriends, friends, fathers, brothers, husbands, strangers we’ll never get to meet. Love, despair — utter despair — faith, loss of faith, hope, sometimes joy, gratitude, guilt, sacrifice, the unfairness of life, the inevitability of loss…
My family has been lucky so far, but after everything sometimes that’s easy to forget. My mother-in-law is in remission. She takes drugs with awful side effects to help keep the cancer from returning and has to get blood tests every three months for the next five years. Imagine how frightening it would be waiting for those results. “How long will it take,” you ask the nurse. “A few days,” she replies. “We should have them by Thursday.”
Thursday.
And now they post them online. Imagine that, being at home in front of the computer and pulling up your test results online…
When people say to me, “October is about increasing awareness,” I think, yes, it’s also about that.
If you feel like sending in your support sign, please do. It only takes a minute, but the gesture means a lot. Just send in a picture of yourself with your support sign, and you’ll also be entered to win a prize worth $400 in makeup from MAC and Chanel.
Please be sure to leave a comment on the original post if you do submit your sign entry by email, twitter, blog posting, etc.
These lovely ladies are standing up with me to raise awareness this month. Won’t you please join us? 
The Breast Cancer Awareness Month Sign Project and Giveaway
Email or link to a picture of yourself holding your support sign (like the examples above), and leave a comment on the original post. Not only will you be showing your support for the cause, but you’ll also be entered to win a $400 prize package of makeup from MAC and Chanel.
To Enter…
- Take a picture of yourself with a sign that reads, “October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.” Whether or not you show your face is up to you, but I think it would be great to see your lovely mug. 🙂
- Send it to me. You can either email it to karen@makeupandbeautyblog.com, OR post it on your blog/facebook page and leave a link to the pic in the comments on the original post, OR upload it to Twitter and send a tweet to me @karenmbb.
- The giveaway is open to US and international readers, but you must be the age of majority according to your country’s local laws (18 in the United States with these exceptions: Alabama and Nebraska, 19; Mississippi, 21).
- One entry per person.
- Deadline to enter is October 31, 2010 at 11:59PM PST.
Please comment on the original post to enter (and not on this post here).
Please take a moment this weekend to show your support.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Does your phone have a camera? You might be able to snap your pic and email your entry from there. 😉