Things I don't understand #11...

...Why I still have freckles.
Yes, for anyone who hasn't had the honor of meeting me face to face, I have freckles. On my face. On my arms and on my legs and on my hands and on my fingers and on my ears. Very few body parts have been spared. My toes appear to be freckle free at the moment. I've always had freckles. As a small child I think it may be safe to say they were my defining characteristic. For the most part, I've forgot about them. I've heard you can get rid of them, but that's not really what I'm angling for here. Basically, I was reminded recently of a conversation I had with my dad when I was probably 3 or 4 years old.

Since, as I alluded to above, my freckles were quite predominant as a child, the other kids my age decided to pick from the low hanging tree and hurl the crippling insult of "freckle face" at me. At the time, I'm sure this was one the worst things I could ever be called (life allowed me to discover much differently, but that's another post). And it seemed I could never get away from it, because, after all, you didn't need any special knowledge of me to use it. You just had to have the sense of sight. Well, my 4-year-old frustration had reached it's boiling point one day when I cornered my dad and asked him if my freckles were ever going to go away. I remember him looking at me with concern and a slight smile (I should have picked up on that, no matter what age) and assured me that, "Yes, some day your freckles will go away." A breathed a deep sigh of relief and said, "Good," I then resumed playing with my Stretch Armstrong Spiderman.

I was probably about age 14 when that bulb of enlightenment went off, and I realized I might have to steel myself to the likelihood I would have to deal with this "malady" long term. Please trust me when I say that I have no anger or ill-will towards my father for this particular exchange. Besides, I guessing there are quite a few kids who lose their freckles. He was just playing the percentages and trying to get his only son to quit freaking out over the possibility of a lifetime of freckles. In that sense, it worked. I had bigger things to worry about, like if the General Lee was actually going to clear that ravine so the Duke boys would be able to save Daisy (They did). Also, I've heard there are a lot of fathers out there that recognize that there are conversations that just aren't worth having with a pre-kindergarten lad. And I'm o.k. with that. Just lay off the "freckle face".