Rebel

Lately I've been reflecting on the strange period of my life from the ages of one to three or so when my extended family called me Freddy.

I got glasses when I was one. My older sister's first visit to the optometrist alarmed the doctor, and he wanted to see me as well. My eyes were worse than my sister's; besides being extremely far sided and having an astigmatism, I have ambliopia and can't see much out of my right eye when my left one is open.

I have no idea how the doctor was able to figure out my original prescription. My nose wasn't big enough to hold the enormous pair of glasses chosen for me, so my mother invented some sort of device made out of shoelaces to help keep them on. The tie kept getting tangled up in my hair, so my mom cut it all off. To complete my new look, I was dressed almost exclusively in overalls and tee shirts, which I suspect were hand me downs from a male child of one of my parent's friends. One of my aunts renamed the new me Freddy, which was also the name of the stuffed monkey she gave me when I was born.


Is it any wonder that pink became my favorite color, that I grew my hair down to my elbows and I wore only dresses for years?

Remembrance of Things Past_