Eyes In the Back of My Head

When I was a little girl, my mother told us that if we were naughty she would know about it because she had eyes in the back of her head and could see everything. For the longest time, I tried to see those eyes, even offering to brush her hair so I could get a glimpse. I remember once sneaking up to her bed while she slept, to carefully part the hair on the back of her head, to see if the eye was there. I was terrified that it would be closed and then would suddenly open when I parted the hair.

Of course, I also believed my grandmother when she told me that the watermelon seed I had swallowed was going to sprout into a big watermelon. I was terrified that it would grow and pop out of my belly button.

20/20 Vision

I have an appointment to get my eyes checked for new glasses. I mentioned it to a friend and pretty soon a few of us were discussing all our funny stories about the "old days" when wearing glasses meant having to balance what felt like a two pound weight on the bridge of your nose. And how kids used to hate having to wear glasses - we were called "four eyes" and "coke bottle." This story that my mom told me years ago popped into my head...and Mom, I apologize in advance if I have any of the facts wrong, but this is how I remember the story.

When she was six (back in the 1940s), her teacher told my grandmother that her daughter was "retarded" because she wasn't learning. My grandmother, being a hard headed Swede knew her little girl wasn't retarded, so she took her to the doctor, who referred them for an eye exam. The doc said she was legally blind and prescribed glasses - she has astigmatism, and is both near and far sighted. All the way home, she sat in the back of the car taking her glasses off and on. When they asked her why she kept doing that, she told them she was looking at the leaves on the trees. She had never seen them clearly before. She had never seen her own parents faces clearly. Up to that point, everything had been just blurry shapes. For weeks, she went around re-examining her world, seeing things clearly for the first time in her young life. The petals of a rose, leaves of grass, ladybugs...everything was new and wonderful.

I feel like there's a parable in this somewhere - maybe about putting on our spiritual glasses to see clearly what God wants us to do in our daily lives. I'm still working on that part...

Just a couple thoughts

When I was a little girl, I remember my mother sitting me and my siblings outside of the Hi-Lo Grocery store to wait for her while she went inside to do the weekly grocery shopping. There we’d sit in the 10 inches of shade afforded by the overhang, three little toe-headed Swedes in our summer flip-flops and straw hats. Just to the right of the big doors were three kiddy rides; a merry-go-round, a race car, and one of those one-car ferris wheels that stands about 6-feet tall. They cost a dime each. My mother seldom had extra money, so most days we’d sit there gazing longingly at those tantalizing attractions. Until we figured out that we were cute and could use it to our advantage. One day a woman walking out of the store came over, patted my brother on the head, and gave him a dime. Oh happy days! We took great care in deciding and settled on the merry-go-round because there were three seats - one for each of us.

I was the oldest - about six. Bill was five, Beth four. Vicki, the youngest was still a baby and too young to be part of the scam. We would sit with downcast faces, trying our best to look like sad little orphans, sometimes pretending to cry. All in the hope that a stranger would take pity on us and hand over ten cents. It didn’t work as often as we’d have liked, and of course once my mother caught on about what we were up to, the scheme came to an abrupt end.

Those were the days before child abductions and kids who were warned from the time they leave the womb that they should never speak to a stranger. Fast forward many years. As I was leaving the grocery store last week, there stood a little boy gazing longingly at the 6-machine gumball display. He played with the knobs, turning each one, hoping that somehow it would turn all the way and release a gum ball or one of those cheesy little toys. In a flash, those hot summer days came back to me. I reached into my wallet and pulled out four quarters…one for the little boy and one for each of his siblings who were still standing with mom in the checkout line. I said, “Here sweetheart, these are for you and your brothers & sister.” He looked at me with a combination of terror and hope. He wanted to reach out and take the quarters, but he was afraid of me - a stranger. I said, “That’s OK, I’ll ask your mom.” I looked up to see his mother was already watching me suspiciously. I held up the quarters, pointed to the machines and asked, “OK?” She smiled and nodded. I handed over the quarters and the siblings all clustered around the machines, deciding how to spend their loot. Made me smile all the way home.