Old Lady Notices Her Husband Disappears at Night and Returns in the Morning — Story of the Day

A woman becomes suspicious when her husband starts disappearing every night after dinner, and won't tell her where he is going.

Sally Kemper knew that her husband was cheating on her. He left the house every night without a word of explanation and returned only at daybreak. Sally knew why Tom was cheating after 35 years of marriage. Sally was bald and ugly.

Sally had always been proud of her long, beautiful red hair, so when one day it started falling out, she was horrified. She thought maybe it was her shampoo or the chlorine from the pool where she swam.

As time went on, more and more of Sally's hair fell out and she decided it was time to see her doctor. After a lot of tests, the doctor told her that she had alopecia areata. Her beautiful hair wasn't going to grow back -- she was going to lose it all.

Sally came home and told her husband Tom about her diagnosis. She just couldn't stop crying, and no matter how he tried, Tom couldn't console her. "I'm ugly!" Sally cried. "Look at me!"

Beauty comes from within, from a loving heart and a kind soul.

"No, you're not!" Tom said. "You're as lovely as you've ever been!"

"Stop it!" Sally screamed. "I can see what I look like! I look grotesque!"

"I don't agree," Tom said firmly. "But we can go and look for a wig tomorrow, OK?" Sally was mollified and agreed to go wig shopping with Tom the next day.

The shopping expedition turned out to be a complete disaster. No matter what the salesperson showed her, or what wig she tried on, nothing satisfied Sally. "No!" she said. "That's completely the wrong shade of red!"

She hated the colors, the cut, and the textures of every single wig they showed her until one irritated saleswoman told her, "Lady, you either go bald and proud or have a wig custom made for you!"

That night Sally cried herself to sleep. The next morning she wrapped a scarf around her head to cover the widening bald patches and never spoke about her hair again.

Tom would sometimes try to talk to her about it, but she just shut him down. Sally started going out less and less, and even refused to visit their children and grandchildren. "Do you think I want them seeing me like this?" she'd cry. "I don't want to see anyone!"

Sally even started avoiding shopping for food when one day a woman stared at her head covering and asked her if she was in chemotherapy. "I look like a cancer patient," Sally wept. "Everyone can see there's something wrong with me."

"Look, Sally," Tom said. "I know you're upset about your hair, but you DON'T have cancer, and you are not going to die!"

"I knew you wouldn't understand!" Sally screamed. "I look awful and I feel like a freak! What kind of a life is that?"

It was the next night that Tom started walking out after dinner, and Sally was too afraid to ask where he went. Where was he going? Whom was he meeting?

It would be awful if he told her he preferred to be with other people -- happy people who didn't scream, people who enjoyed life and went to visit their children and went shopping and dancing. Normal people.

Sally walked into the bathroom and stood in front of her mirror. Tom had been spending the nights out for six weeks now, and she hadn't the courage to challenge him, demand an explanation.

Sally pulled the scarf off her head and took a cold hard look at herself. Then Sally covered her eyes with her hands and sobbed. She'd give anything just to feel normal again!

"Sally?" she heard Tom's voice behind her and clasped her hands over her head to hide her baldness.

"Tom," she whispered. "Please don't look at me!"

But Tom was tenderly taking her hands away and uncovering her head. "Sally," he said, "the only person who doesn't want to look at you is you. I love you, with or without hair."

Sally started sobbing as if her heart would break. "Tom, please don't leave me! I know I'm ugly and angry and depressed all the time..."

"Leave you?" gasped Tom astonished. "Where did you get that idea!"

"You're meeting someone every night, some woman!" Sally cried. "I know it!" Tom's reaction to her accusation left Sally speechless.

"That's right," Tom said. "I am. For the last six weeks as a matter of fact, but it's not what you think!"

"It isn't?" asked Sally, bewildered.

Tom had the biggest grin on his face. "Nope!" and set down a big round box in front of Sally. "Remember that woman who talked about a custom wig?" Tom opened the box with a flourish.

"Look!" he said and pulled out a wig exactly the same color as Sally's hair used to be, in exactly the right hairstyle. "I worked with the custom wig maker every single night. We used 23 different shades of red to get it exactly right!"

Sally's mouth hung open. "YOU made this?" she gasped.

Tom nodded. "Well, I helped. I wanted it to be perfect, I wanted you to feel good in this wig."

Sally picked up the wig with trembling hands. "Oh Tom," she whispered. "It's so beautiful!" And with Tom's help, she put on the handmade wig. It really was beautiful, but what made Sally glow was her smile.

"I look like me again, Tom!" she said.

"Sally," Tom said tenderly, "you've always looked like the most beautiful woman in the world to me!"

What can we learn from this story?

• True love doesn't change just because the beloved becomes older, or less attractive. Tom loved Sally just as she was and he desperately wanted her to feel better about herself.
• Beauty comes from within, from a loving heart and a kind soul. Sally thought Tom had stopped loving her because she didn't like what she saw in the mirror, but he loved her more than she imagined.

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