The unanswered questions...

As a parent, you want everything in your children's lives to be perfect. If it can't be perfect, you at the very least want the answers so that you can prepare them for any adversity they may face. As a true control freak, I lived by that notion. With Torie, I vowed to always be honest with her so that she could make the best decisions in everything she faced. I never wanted her to be surprised or feel blindsided. I expected to be able to raise Taylor the exact same way, but Alopecia is all about the unknowns. THAT is what makes it so difficult. Outsiders don't understand "what's so bad about hair-loss". Despite the obvious, the bad part about this disease is the unpredictability and the unanswered questions. Right now, Taylor has a layer of peach fuzz all over her head, and some peach fuzz on her face and arms. She also has about six eyelashes growing. These hairs have "sprouted" in just under three weeks time. I want to be excited, if nothing else it proves that spending time in the sun has worked, but given the uncertainty that is this disease, I find that we are not really excited with the discovery of hair. Ok, of course I'm excited, but not outwardly so because it is likely to fall out when winter comes, if not before. These are the things I just do not understand, the questions that I want answers to... WHY does it effect one person and not another? Why did it happen to Taylor at age 1, but it does not effect someone else until 6, 7, 17 or 45 years of age? (of course, I am thankful that she will always know this disease rather than become accustomed to having hair and then losing it). Why is there no cure? Why do treatments not yield much success? I hope that in Taylor's lifetime, we are able to have some of these questions answered. I hope that the more people learn about this disease, the more research will result and hopefully the treatments will one day show success and maybe even a cure could result. At the very least, it would be nice for it to not be taboo to see a bald girl. In trying to create a perfect world for my daughter, the best I can do is try to remove the questions of others and educate as many people as I can. Taylor certainly isn't alone in this, there are millions with this disease... And thus I never want her to feel alone. I still have many questions, even "why her?" still crosses my mind on some days. This has been a learning experience and maybe it is meant to teach me that I cannot control the world but I can still create the most perfect environment for my child given the obstacles thrown our way...