I Stuff My Bra...So What?: A Beauty-for-Ashes Cancer Journey

Bra-stuffing has occurred since the bra was invented. Women who performed on stage, actresses, grandmothers, mothers, female athletes, women in the workplace, and even church ladies have stuffed their bras. Back in the day, it was called wearing falsies. I used to watch my female cousins, aunts, and some of my older sisters' friends put falsies in their bras. It made no sense to me why they needed or wanted extra when they should have been happy with what they had. Well, that was before I had anything to contend with. The diagnosis of breast cancer was more than a scary word. I pictured it as the boogeyman and all his friends waiting to take me away to drown in the sea of this disease. I didn't lose a breast to cancer. I gave away what God showed me it represented in my life. In return, He gave me a new life, a new hope, a new vision, and a new love--A love for myself. Mine was an experience of climbing the rough side of the mountain barefoot but my trust in God never wavered.