Wax On - Wax Off

Trust – when a person with deafblindness has trust in another - complete trust and belief that the other person offers a total assurance of safety – then all things are possible. That certainty is very difficult for a deafblind person to obtain, but when she does, there is unquestioning reliance. Ashley and Amy, her intervener and friend, are at that place.

While Ashley may question Amy sometimes – as any teenager may question an adult – I know Ashley would place her life in Amy’s hands. And so, last Friday night, when Amy said she wanted to wax Ashley’s eyebrows, Ashley was very relaxed and cooperative. I’m not sure I would have been quite so cooperative had I been in the same place!

Ashley is of Italian heritage. She has beautiful thick, dark, wavy hair. Unfortunately, she is also a tad bit hairy on other parts of her body. Amy was the person who first introduced Ashley to shaving her legs and armpits, so it seems only fitting that Amy is also the person who recommended waxing. Ashley is also very beautiful, but Amy felt that Ashley’s beauty would be further enhanced if her brows were a little better shaped. And so the wax was warmed and the application began.

I’m not sure exactly what I expected, but what I didn’t expect was that Ashley would lie quietly and still on her bed while Amy applied the wax, waited for it to dry a bit, and than yanked it (and the errant hair) off in one quick swoop. After the second brow was done, Amy and I oohed and aahed over how great Ashley’s brows looked, and Ashley just kept signing ‘beautiful’.

My little girl grew up just a little more last Friday night. Not just because she had her brows shaped, but because she took a risk, placed complete trust in someone, and realized that the world can be a safe and happy place when someone loves you.