Holding Back a Wallflower

After I hit three, I started to ask a lot of questions, like most kids do. I would ask about the sky, the moon, and the stars. I’d ask about my Mother’s life as a child. I’d asked about stuff I’d seen on the television. But most of all, I was curious about myself.

One day, my Mother and I had been doing something in the living room, and I had turned around and asked her, What color are my eyes?

She gave me a weird look at first and told me, Look in the mirror. I did so and looked into my eyes. It was slightly dark in the room, so I couldn’t see color very well. I turned to my Mom and told her, Grayish purple.

She leaned down and looked into my eyes. She told me, Green.

I can’t see the green well now. They change, I think.

No, I don’t think so. They’ve always been green.

Will they ever change?

They might change to blue when you’re older.

And that made me happy as a clam. I went off on my merry way.

only years later did I actually realize my Mother was wrong. Only years later did I realize not only did the shade of green change, but my eyes also turned gray, gold, and brown.

And never have been close to a shade of blue.