Broke The Mold

Have you ever heard the saying "God broke the mold when he made you."?  I certainly hope that is true.  I seem to be a walking catastrophe at times and hope that others do not have my uniqueness. Being unique is a good thing at times, but other times it is just not fun.  Certain parts of my uniqueness I just refer to as being very special or unusually blessed.  So what about my mold is different?

I am a giant . . . . now I know that I am not really a giant but that is how children and some adults see me.  I hear "Whoa, you're tall!" a lot from children.  Being 6'1" is not always easy.  Sure you can reach the top shelf at the grocery store.  Sure you can see over a crowd.  Sure you can be 9 months pregnant and only look like you are 3 months.  I like sitting in those super tall chair that you can sometimes find at restaurants so my legs dangle.  I like to sit in the back pew at church, so I can have some leg room.  But being tall comes with its own disadvantages, too.  My name is not "Jolly Green Giant".  My name is not "Big Bird."  I don't answer to "Hey, you up there."  Shopping for clothes is terrible. . . I have to special order my long sleeved shirts and my long pants and jeans (36" inseam).  Shoes . . . ha ha ha ha . . . I am wearing mens size 11, which would be about a 12 or 13 in womens.  I whack my head a lot in this world designed for shorter people.  The first two used cars that I owned I had to contort my legs and knees, cramming them at an angle under the steering wheel just so I could drive it down the road.  Glad I have a Mailbu now, plenty of leg room!  There is so many more disadvantages to being tall, but that is enough for now.  

I could be a bubble girl . . . . Oh, so many of my friends tease me that I should be inside a plastic bubble.  The older I get the more allergies I seem to develop.  My biggest allergy is to capsicum (peppers).  So that would include green peppers, red peppers, sausage, pepperoni, chili, salsa, paprika (which is in EVERYTHING), etc. . . .   It is one of those triple header allergies- food, airborne and skin reactions.  But according to the tests at the allergy doctor's office it is just an intolerance so it won't kill me, instead I get hives, feel like I have the stomach flu, loose my voice, get a headache, and I want to curl up in a ball and not move.  Oh the newest reaction to the list. . . . my cheeks and ears turn bright red.  But don't worry it won't kill me, it just will make me EXTREMELY miserable.  Within the last 18 months, I have discovered that I am allergic to SLS (sodium laureth sulfate) a foaming agent which was in my shampoo and toothpaste; peeling, blistering skin is always so joyful to deal with.  Like I said I am special.  I have discovered that Burt's Bee Balm has an amazing shampoo that is SLS free and Sensodyne Pronamel toothpaste is SLS free.  Oh my gosh, Tom's of Maine mouthwash is SLS free and is amazing!  Now you might be laughing at this point, go ahead.  I laugh quite often about all of my strange allergies.  I have a whole list more of allergies, but I'll stop at the big ones.

I have four eyes . . . . Yep, I wear glasses.  I have tried contacts, but I must have been allergic to the cleaning solution.  Glasses are a pain when it rains, when you go inside after being out in the cold they fog up, and you always have to clean them.  It would be cool if someone invented wipers to clean your glasses with, so much easier.  Something cool about wearing glasses, if I have a headache I can take the glasses off and the world blurs around me which can lessen the throbbing pain.  Nice!  Strange fact- the eye doctor has to leave the lights on for my eye exam because the difference in light changes my prescription.  I am nearsighted with astigmatisms, so my daughter comes by it naturally (although her vision is worse than mine).  Even though I got teased about wearing glasses growing up, it is nice to wear them now.  My daughter loves to wear her glasses because she gets to be like mommy and that I would not trade for anything.

If it is going to happening to anyone, it WILL happen to me . . . . I just have this wonderful magnetism for the strange and unusual.  Did you know that only about 30% of women have to have a c-section? Yep, this was me twice.  Have you ever walked into the edge of a screen door with your face as it is mid-way through closing?  Happened to me.  Have you woke up in the middle of the night with a mouse sitting on your shoulder?  Happened to me in high school.  Have you had a pheasant almost fly through the open passenger window of your car?  Yep.  Have you been surrounded by a flock of wild baby turkeys with an angry momma turkey standing right in front of you?  Why, yes I have.  Have you had one of those automatic check-outs at the store that calls for the attendant after every single action you take?  Oh yes!!!  Have you had your turn signals on your car short-out?  Yep, twice!  Have you had the head gasket blow on your car on Christmas Eve spewing antifreeze from the tail pipe?  Yep.  Have you had a baby pee in your ear?  Ha ha ha!  This one was actually my husband.  We learned that valuable lesson of covering Pumpkin with a wet wipe when we changed his diaper that day. Are you laughing yet????  That is what I do when something weird happens.  I figure you can either laugh or cry, so why not laugh!

Life is really what you make of it, but I am still hoping that the mold was broken when I was born. We have a lot of blessings in our life, but everyone often has challenges that lay hidden too.  So if someone if having a bad day, give them the benefit of the doubt because you never know how much they are going through unless you travel a mile in their shoes.  I know that I cannot shrink my legs, that my allergies will run amuck, that I have goofy eyes, and that the weird and unexplainable WILL happen to me . . . . but that is what makes me unique.  That is what makes me who I am. . . . Me.  And who better to be than yourself?   What weird quarks do you have?