Sigh...Childhood: Are You a Boy or a Girl?

My parents came to Santa Fe to visit me for a week. Tonight I was sitting around, working on my computer, when my dad turned around and said "You look pretty. Go figure! you were SUCH an ugly child, I would have never imagined"

Weird looking or not, this is my favorite picture of baby me with my mommy. Her prettiness makes me look even more alien-like 

No... he was not kidding.





This is the kind of comment that I have grown up with. I don't mind it anymore. Apparently my ugliness as a child made me the favorite among some of my family members, or that is what they tell me! But here is the truth: I was TRULLY a bad looking child. I went from looking like an alien when I was born (yes, I know, they say all newborns look like that, but you would change your mind if you saw me), to looking like a boy for many years after. This was not easy when one of your sisters was Dora the Explorer and the other a baby panda. I still remember the looks people gave when they saw me! and my most vivid memories are those of other kids my age gathering around me and then asking if I was a boy or a girl, with the most serious look in their faces.

Yup. These are three girls. Guess which is Laura? 

I grew up and people stopped being so indiscrete about my looks, or maybe I did begin looking more normal. However, I was (and still am) compared to Olive Oyl too often. She is the only person  in the universe that I have ever been compared to (besides E.T. and Droopy but they are not technically persons).

Olive Oyl may not be pretty by our standards, but she is the star of her show! 

Nowadays people who knew me will look at me and say "wow, you didn't turn out that bad". But other times the same people will look at me and say "Wow, you look JUST like you did when you were little". I just nod and think back on that poor kid who got called E.T. while all others were playing to be Disney princesses. If she was here today I would hug her and pinch her 'droopy' cheeks while we play with dirt  and eat candy together. I love and miss that kid.

I was wearing bright pink tights on this trip, and I believe my parents must have gotten criticized a lot by strangers who thought that they put those on a boy.  

The funny thing is that I didn't care too much about all this! No, I didn't think I was very pretty, but I grew up wanting to be a monkey anyways, so for all I know I looked more like a monkey the way I was than I would have if I had been a cute little girl!

I must say, recently I found a REAL person in a movie who looks very much like I did! But I will talk about that soon!

Does anybody else have similar childhood experiences? or do most people grow up just being a normal kid who gets called 'cute' all the time?