I Have Freckles

[Noun ---A small patch of light brown color on the skin, often becoming more pronounced through exposure to the sun.----Verb: Cover or become covered with freckles: "skin that freckles easily"; "a freckled face".]

Laying in the sun today (yes we do get hot weather in Canada) I floated back in time to a memory of laying next to my father on the lawn in my childhood.  He used to love laying out after his lunch on summer days, and would always fall asleep after perhaps perusing the newspaper, no blanket or towel, just right on the soft grass.

He was fair skinned and was blond most of his life, and I would always marvel at the amount of freckles on his back and arms, even though he had none on his face that I could see. He never seemed to burn either.

Today with perfection as our focal point, do we see freckles like we do acne?  I grew up with freckles on my face and on my arms and legs...they seem to be less defined on the face as one gets older.  I often catch myself thinking they look like pimples, in particular when I may have a few more of those now that I am going through the pains of menopause - but I have to tell myself I am 'stinkin' thinkin' instead of seeing me as a 'whole person'.

My sister Allynne, a model, had loads of freckles in her youth and is strikingly beautiful. I remember feeling more pretty in the summer when mine would pop out and I would look more like my big sister :)   My mother had moles on her face, and in those days we called them 'beauty marks'... My mother used to define hers even further with an eyebrow pencil when applying make up. If you got it, you may as well flaunt it! right?

I can still feel my father's skin, hot in the sun as I'd move my finger along his freckles trying to 'connect the dots', but there were way too many. I always wanted to count every freckle on his body, and one day told him so :) ...lol

That would have taken days!