Reading Glasses, Pimples, and Curly Hair

Okay, I know a lot of people will say, "You should at least be glad that you didn't have to wear glasses in your teens!" But, that's what makes it that much more unfair. Why couldn't I go through life never needing glasses if I started that way? It makes it much harder to remember them if you didn't always need them. And if I had needed them as a teen, I probably would have gotten contacts. But you really can't get your first pair of contacts when you're beyond middle-aged, can you? And do you know that there are times I have had to have Niel read a menu to me because I forgot my glasses? What's fair about that? And don't get me started on how hard it is to read labels in the grocery store.

And, why do I still get random pimples when I am fifty years old? Shouldn't I be completely pimple free if I have to use reading glasses? Shouldn't there be a trade-off here?

Which (somehow) brings me to curly hair... As a child of the 70's, I was totally out of style. While the boys worshiped Marsha Brady's smooth, silken waterfall of hair, I was stuck with wavy, wavy, wavy. I remember once going to get my hair trimmed and trying to describe the angle of Marsha's hair; but lacking in communication skills, got it all wrong. All I could say is that I wanted it natural looking and not just straight across in the back. My mother, who easily lost patience with me; and seldom understood me, told the hairdresser, exasperation dripping in her voice, "Okay, cut it very uneven and we'll see if she likes it." The hairdresser balked, but my mother was adamant. It was horrible, but I was too stubborn to admit it to my mom and told her it was just what I wanted, thank you.

But back to the curly hair....the waves have gotten curlier with the years. Go figure that!!! I wish I had a dollar for every person who said to me, "Oh, I wish I had your hair." "It must be wonderful to have such curly hair!" "Why do you ever wear it straight?" Well, these same people do not know that curly hair has a mind of its own. On days that my hair is feeling particularly generous towards me; yes, it will fall in a wonderful cascade of curls. On days that my hair is feeling somewhat persnickedy (which is more often), it will choose to do "it's own thing." "It's own thing" can be anything from making me look like a bushman (sorry, Bruce), to curling on one side/falling straight on the other, to looking great with two or three errant locks that persist in sticking out at odd angles. And that's not even taking into account when humidity hits and it just grows bigger and bigger. They could make a movie, "The Hair That Took Over Salt Lake City."

What can I say? Oct. 13th seemed like a good day to whine...do you think Christopher Columbus whined?