Photo by true2source
(please read note at end of post)
I have strawberries.
There’s a medical term for it, but I don’t remember it. All I remember is that my lovers have always referred to them as “strawberries”—either with great fascination or great disdain and precious little in between.
They’re tiny scarlet freckles, no larger than the size of a pinhead, and I have probably a dozen hidden on my body. The doctor who laser-smoothed my childhood dog-bite scar offered to zap them off for me, but they don’t bother me and I’ve never held any animosity toward them, unlike with the scar.
When I was a tiny girl, I was always intrigued with them on the other women in my family and somehow understood them to be a sign of womanhood and would say that I would have them, too, when I became a woman. And I do. But getting dressed in front of the mirror and not yet dressed, I noticed one of the cherry-red flecks and distinctly heard the word INCLUSIONS. Not occlusions, as in a blockage, but inclusions. Like with my favorite quartz crystals.I have quite a few crystals in my home. Some are perfectly clear and pretty. Others have shadows, phantoms, bubbles inside, and some look like computer chips inside. Inclusions, I’m told by geologists.
I’m captivated not by perfection but by the imperfections that make each crystal unique.
(Note: the medical term is cherry angioma or cherry hemangioma)
NOTE to readers: For those of you who find your strawberries upsetting and want to get rid of them, I went to a cosmetic laser specialist to have a scar smoothed twice from my face and neck where I was attacked by a dog as a child and on my second visit, the doc decided to do me a favor while I was wearing the laser goggles…he also zapped a broken vein under the skin with a different kind of laser and then proceeded to zap the strawberries within sight on my open neckline. It was almost painless–a little sting that went away very quickly. The strawberries turned brown immediately and fell off in a few days. If you are really bothered by your strawberries, you can have them all zapped in one quick session (mine, including scar-smoothing, took about 20 minutes). It cost me somewhere between $150 and $200 (he threw in the strawberry-zapping free). Good luck!
*****
You’ve just read one of our most popular posts. If you enjoyed this one, try these:
Life Improvements/Finding Happiness/Positive Thinking
HOT 7 Tips to Stop Getting Advice You Don’t Want
Body Image: Are You a Temple or a Tool?
Body Positives: Getting Personal but Keeping It PG
Defining Contentment
Do Something New: An Unexpected Weekend Among the Trees
Don’t Pity Me
Enjoying My Flaws
Home Is Where the Spirit Is
How to Love Mondays
How to Make It Better
The Bracelet Challenge
The Best Advice a Teen Ever Gave Her Mom
The Miracle of Bad Things
The To-Don’t List
Why Some People Will Never Be Happy
