This is my post for #freewriters 2799 prompt not as cute as me! hosted by @mariannewest
I think Mom was around 16 when she had me. She said she had a bad sunburn when she was pregnant with me, and the sunburn put her in early labor. I remember Dad telling me the story of how I looked after my birth. He went to his grave, blaming the doctor who delivered me for my blind eye. He said the right side of my face was bruised from the doctor using the forceps to pull me out. I understand him being mad, but that is not why I can not see from my right eye. I have amblyopia, also known as lazy eye. Dad would not hear the truth, he thought it was caused by the forceps and that was it.
When I was in third grade, they operated on my eye to straighten it, and I was to wear a patch. I could not see clear enough to walk around with the patch on, so I would keep one corner pulled where I could see. They expected me to go to school and do schoolwork without being able to see. I have always wondered if that is why I could never see from it, I can see light around the edges, but I can not see good enough to walk around.
This is my oldest sister with me. When I was born, she was 15 or 16 years old. She did most of the caring for me. I had two older brothers at this time. I was the first girl by my Mom.
I had a favorite rock, it had a curve that fit my bottom, and when we left here when I was 15, the curve still fit my bottom.
Mom told me of a time when I was young that my hair started to fall out. She took me to a hair salon, and the elderly lady told her what to put on my hair. Mom could only remember one of the ingredients, and she could not remember exactly what it was called. She said the one was hot mustard something. That is all I could find out about it, and now I will never know.
I am not sure how long it took for my hair to come back but it came back thicker than it was and all of my life I have had the thickest hair of anyone in our family.
All of my life, I have had what I call a racy heart, it will start beating really fast, and soon I feel like I have been running for miles. When it does this, I lay down and rest until it stops. I do not even want to talk while it is doing this. Mom told me she first noticed it when I was 4 years old. I was floating on a raft in the inlet, and she told me to paddle closer to shore. I was getting too far out. I told her I was too tired to paddle. She said when she got me to shore and picked me up, my heart was beating fast. She rushed me to Dad, but by the time we got there, it had stopped, and I was back to normal. Dad never would take me to a doctor for it, he would say I have a heart murmur. I have told doctors that is what I have, and they do not hear a murmur.
Then Mom had another girl, a boy and another girl and by the time she had the last one, I was old enough to think she was the cutest thing I had ever seen,
but still not as cute as me!
photos are mine