F is for Freckles

 

Today, kids use markers, lose markers, leave the lids off markers, get new markers when the old markers get lost or dry up, and generally take markers for granted. When I was a kid, they were so special they were known as MAGIC markers, and if you had a package of them, you took CARE of those babies.

I got a set of magic markers when I was in 2nd grade. I kept them in a drawer in an old washstand in our living room where I also kept my Magi!lla Gorilla and Beany & Cecil coloring books and an old fruitcake tin filled with crayons (mostly broken, probably hand-me-downs from my brother). 

Now, there was a little girl named Elizabeth in my 2nd grade class, and I was fascinated by her. She had short, red hair and light green eyes, and a wide, infectious smile, but the feature that made me the most jealous was her freckles. Swoon!  People commented on how completely adorable her freckled nose was, and I thought my life would be complete if only I had freckles, too.

Then I had a lightbulb moment, and one Saturday afternoon, I got my magic markers out of the drawer in the washstand, disappeared into the bathroom, and came out with the most beautiful, authentic-looking freckles EVER. I was going to be just like Elizabeth! Everyone would think I was adorable, too!

I nonchalantly strolled back into the living room and put away my markers and acted as though nothing were different. My mom, on the other hand, took one look at me and burst out laughing before marching me to the bathroom and scrubbing off my handiwork, telling me that some people had freckles and some people didn't and I didn't.

Ultimately, the joke was on my mom, because I DID still have faint freckles that I wore to church the next day, thanks to those magical markers!

Liz. See? Adorable!

Not one of my better school photos.
The photographer was probably about
to make me cry about my dimples.

ps Liz and I became the best of friends in 4th grade and still touch base with each other even after all these years