The Mole

When I look in the mirror each morning, I generally don't have many bad thoughts. I'm not a model, that's for sure, but I don't think I'm hard on the eyes either. I put in the minimal effort needed to prevent weird looks from my family and friends, like plucking and waxing where needed, and a little light makeup to brighten things up. I know that I am only 27 years old, so I'm sure I might think differently when I'm 47, but I've never even thought about things like plastic surgery or changing anything on my body. I am over all, pretty content with the way that I look.
This all changed one day. I was sitting on my couch with my 3 year old daughter, Anna, playing with her hair, telling her how beautiful she was, and she was in return, playing with my hair and telling me how beautiful I was. She then took a real long look at my face, placed her tiny finger under my nose, touched a mole that has been there before time and asked, "What is that?" I explained that it was mole and some people have them and some do not. She then told me it was icky. I laughed and thought nothing more of it. It had never bothered me befor and I barely even noticed it was there.
Then one day, while in the car with my friend, we were talking about our makeup and I made the mistake of looking in the mirror. All I could see was this huge mole. How could I have not noticed this?? It seemed so big. I couldn't stop looking at it. I wondered how I had gone all these years with a mole this large on my face. Had anyone really ever looked me in the eye, or were they all just staring at my mole?? My friend then asked, "Why don't you just have it removed? I guess I could, I thought. I became obsessed. I couldn't do anything until I did something about it. I called my mom, who had a great dermatologist and has had many moles herself removed. She explained that it was very simple and they do it right there and it only takes a few minutes. I made an appointment that day.
I was so excited the day of my appointment. I was going to be mole free! I'm really not a vain person. I don't even like to style my hair, I just couldn't stand this mole anymore. It almost seemed to be mocking me and I'll be honest, it frightened me a little.
When the doctor came in, he said, "Yep, it's a mole. We can take it right off, no big deal, but it will have to be at another appointment". I left very disappointed. I would have to spend another month with my mole.
Finally the day came and I was excited again. I got in the room and the nurse came in. He asked if I was feeling OK about everything which I found odd and made me a little nervous. I told him I felt fine and was even a little excited. He then went on to tell me that they would have to numb my face and that it was going to hurt a lot. "I mean a lot, it's really painful, do you still want to do this?", he asked. I then became very nervous and replied, "um, yes".
The doctor then came in and and taped my eyes shut with wet gauze and gave me the most painful shot I've ever had in my life. He then began do dig out my face (or at least that is what it felt like) and preformed what I can only describe as minor surgery. 40 minutes later, they sat me up and gave me a mirror. I was swollen, stitched, and bleeding. I looked like a beaten hooker. A horrible feeling of regret swam through my body. I wondered if I had made a horrible mistake?? He then explained that I would have stitches in my face for a week and that the scar would be bright red for a few weeks. I was beginning to miss my mole.
The next day was a little better, the swelling had gone down and I could feel my face again. I had to go out into public with the stitches, but I was starting to not even notice they were there anymore. I was with my friend again and I kept asking what way I needed to go to get to places that I regularly visited. She asked me if I had lost my sense of direction when I lost my mole. We then began to laugh about the thought of my mole having powers that helped me. Had my mole really been a friend all along? I will always have a little scar to remind me of my mole and every time I get lost, I will think of him.