The other day a friend saw a photo of me and exclaimed “Oh!  I see your mom’s face in this picture.”  Now a lot of you might have fearitude about becoming your mother, but if you’ve ever seen my mom, you know that her face is beautiful.  Her eyes are emerald green and her nose is one of those perfectly straight, sleek ones.

I do not have my mom’s eyes or her nose.  I have my dad’s bright blue eyes.  And I have my dad’s nose.  The Wheeler Nose.  All of my siblings share The Nose as do all of my cousins, nieces and nephews on that side of my family.  It is a genetic wonder.  Everyone, I mean everyone, has The Nose.  The Wheeler Nose is known for being a bit bulbous and very springy.  Nothing straight and sleek about it.  It’s quirky.  Unfortunately, the quirkiness of The Nose sometimes leads to people pressing it like a button.  Sometimes they even make sound effects like “Bing!” or “Boop!”  I really have to work hard not to run away yelling “No touchy!  No touchy!  NO TOUCHY!”  Anyway, other than the occasional unwelcome nose poking, I’ve come to terms with The Nose.

Did you know that your nose never stop growing?  I don’t know the name for this, but I think it should be called Pinocchio Syndrome, don’t you?  I accept the fact that my nose will one day take up a large percentage of the real estate on my face.  Fingers crossed, maybe, just maybe, as The Nose expands it will straighten out and I will have the sleek nose of my mother.

For now, friends, appreciate the nose you have.  Be nice to it because one day it just may swallow the entirety of your face.  The good news is that your ears also never stop growing, so you’ll have a pair of Dumbo sized ears to match your honker.