The year I was cross eyed and toothless.

My Aunt Janet recently sent me some old pictures from when I was very young... and there were some in there where my left eye was crossed inward.... and I was missing teeth.

I remember how that happened!

When we first moved to Fort Smith, we were pretty poor.

we bounced from a few different rental places before we finally moved to Allied Gardens Estates.

They added the "Estates" to make it sound regal... but it wasn't... it was low income housing.

Being subsidized houseing, it was quite a melting pot. Several families who had JUST immigrated from Vietnam or Laos.

Well, one day, I was walking down the stairs to play in the "yard" when one of the immigrant children came up to me with a paper "lunch" bag filled with rocks and dirt and hit me in my left eye!

That NIGHT my eye crossed inward!

When my mom took me to the eye doctor, all he did was tell me I had to wear glasses... MAGNIFYING glasses to help pull my eye forward.

I hated those glasses... I mean I REALLY hated them. So it was such a "shame" when they were "lost" just a couple months after I got them.

Here's the crazy part... after about a year, my eye slowly straightened up! odd.

As for the toothless part... that was ALL my sister's fault.

One day, I had to have been 2 or 3 at the most, Donishia was jumping off the porch backward.

She DARED me to do it... as I was getting on to the edge of the porch Donishia PUSHED ME and said "GOOOOOOOO!"

I can CLEARLY remember that feeling of falling backward of the porch! I can still feel that horror as I was screaming... and realized that my OPEN MOUTH was about to hit the concrete edge of the porch!

I can still SEE the shards of my front tooth as it SHATTERED on the porch! I think I went in to shock because the next thing I remember is going to the dentist.

He "cemented" my tooth back together and put it back in! But, I picked at it so much later that It all fell out again... and Donishia got in trouble AGAIN! >:-)

I didn't have my front teeth for at least 3 more years! But I've had that story to hold over my sister's head for more than 30 years! ;-p