Growing up, I had no idea that I had a lazy eye. I never remember anyone mentioning it, or any discussion of any kind. Kids were cruel about so many things- I was bullied often for smelling of cigarettes and for my white skin, but the eye never came up. In fact, I was twelve years old when my foster mom became fixated on helping me improve it (this never worked). As I grew older the eye seemed to develop a personality all its own, resulting in many uncomfortable and hard things. It was easy to hate.
I wish, at my forty-three years of age, I could say that I now embrace my lazy eye as beautiful, but that would not quite be true. I have embraced it, however. It has become one more way to filter out the less than genuine people, the ones I really don’t want around anyhow. I know that if someone loves me, the eye won’t matter. I know that my eye has become a large contributor of my ever growing empathy. I value differences in others. I can think of a hundred ways that I have learned to accept this ugliness about me, and how it has made me a better person.
Has there been anything in your life that makes this relatable?
This world is growing increasingly harder on kids. Recently another child has taken their life because the cruelty of other kids was simply unbearable. Whenever I stumble upon something that can empower children to embrace their differences, I become a major fan. That’s why I am excited to share a new family film with you. Opening this weekend is the movie Uglydolls. (Trailer)
In the adorably different town of Uglyville, weird is celebrated, strange is special and beauty is embraced as more than simply meets the eye. Here, the free-spirited Moxy and her UglyDoll friends live every day in a whirlwind of bliss, letting their freak flags fly in a celebration of life and its endless possibilities. The endearingly unique residents of Uglyville occasionally look to the sky above the town, where a new UglyDoll will appear and be embraced by the community.
Moxy (Kelly Clarkson) loves her square-peg life in this round-hole town, but her curiosity about all things leads her to wonder if there’s something – anything – on the other side of the mountain which nestles Uglyville. Moxy gathers a group of her closest friends and sets off to find what’s on the other side. They discover another world – Perfection – a town where more conventional dolls are trained in protocols before they graduate and are sent to the “real” world to find the love of a child.
In Perfection, Moxy and her crew are subject to the manipulations of Lou (Nick Jonas), the perfect doll in charge of training recruits. Here, the UglyDolls will confront what it means to be different, struggle with their desire to be loved, and ultimately discover that you don’t have to be perfect to be amazing because who you truly are is what matters most. UGLYDOLLS releases in theaters this Friday, May, 3.
Rainy Day in May... 
I love you, your eyes, your compassion, your empathy, your consideration, your spirit, your survivalism, your willingness to help others, just….you. 💝
I am 85% deaf when my hearing implant is turned off and boy was I bullied for that! As well as being an overweight child and having skin darker than some of my classmates. What makes us, for lack of a better term, better than other negative people are the points I mentioned above. When you’re getting it from all sides in the worst way – cry, scream, & get angry but turn around and project all that negativity into positivity to others that need our support and help….then you have a beautiful thing called love. That my friend is a 1000x better than an eye, perfect hearing, being thin having a specific skin tone or a survivor. It’s being a damn good human being loving flaws in every one without even realizing they are there. The world needs Ugly Dolls. 🤗