About my scar.

Imagine, you’re a 16 year old girl. It’s the week you get your driver’s license and the week of your junior prom. To a high school girl, it’s probably the most exciting week to date.

Now, how about taking that license photo with a chin full of stitches, and taking your prom picture with a fat lip. I did.

Mind you, it could have been much worse, but when you’re 16 and barely have a care in the world, it’s a BIG deal. It’s not actually that noticeable, unless you’re very close to me, but I’ve been asked about it. My daughter points out the ‘white line’ on my face quite a bit. Such an ego boost.

Here’s what happened:

I was sleeping. I had to get up to pee, but got up much too quickly. By the tme I reached the bathroom, I was so dizzy that I fell forward, flat on my face. All I wanted to do was get up, pee and go back to bed. My Dad came in to see if I was ok, and told my Mom to get me some ice and a cloth.

“I’m fine…I just want to pee and go back to sleep.”

“L, you have a hole in your chin. I need to take you to the hospital.”

Crap.

So, we went to the hospital, and I did, in fact, have a hole in my chin. I bit right through. I was lucky I didn’t knock out a tooth, break my nose, etc. The nurse in the ER was my Science teacher’s wife. The doctor warned me that the cut was in such a place that, when it healed, could leave me with a curled lip. Like Sylvester Stallone.

Like Sylvester Stallone. That is NOT a good look on a 16 year old girl. Or boy. Or Sylvester Stallone (Yo, Adrian!)

So, I got my stitches. I went home. I woke up the next day with my bottom lip swollen almost to the point of touching my nose. I stayed home from school that day. The week went by, and my face went from puffy and distorted to slightly less puffy and very bruised. By Thursday, I took the bandage off to smile, as best as I could, for my driver’s license picture. The next day, I put on my dress and went to my prom, looking like I was in a street fight. I dripped soda on my dress. Through the hole in my chin.

True story.

{if you’re wondering if my lip looks like Sly Stallone…it doesn’t. I dodged a serious bullet there}