When I was in my early teens, I had this habit of getting whatever food it was I was eating in places that it shouldn’t have been. I mean spaghetti sauce on the backs of the knees of my jeans, macaroni and cheese on my shoe, or coffee on the sleeve of my shirt – and I never had a good explanation for it at all.
Well, one morning while my grandparents were visiting, we decided to meet for bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, as sort of a send-off meal before my grandparents had to make the journey back to Maryland. Now, I LOVE bagels, especially when smeared with a good quantity of cream cheese and topped with delicious smoked salmon. That morning I eagerly ordered just that before taking my seat at our large table.
Before I go on, I should probably mention that at this age I had very long hair, and was often brushing it out of my face and behind my ears. This may have been the year I was awkwardly growing out my bangs, so the “brushing out of my face” was happening far more frequently than normal. This will become important a little later on – I promise.
So, we were all sitting there, gathered around a table in a bagel shop on a cloudy, possibly rainy, spring morning. I eagerly dug into my bagel, pausing momentarily to enjoy my cup of hot coffee. Somewhere between setting my cup down and reaching for my bagel, my hair fell into my face. Not giving it much thought, I reached up to brush it out and behind my ear, and went back to take another bite when my mom quietly asked what it was I had in my eyebrow.
I didn’t know what was in my eyebrow, so I reached up to wipe it away, and came back with a fingertip full of cream cheese. That’s right, I got cream cheese in my eyebrow. I was a little more than a little embarrassed, and, being a teenager, this was an “end of the world'” moment for me. I was quick to wipe my face before finishing my bagel while considering the outcome of cutting my hair – undoing all of the work I’d done to grow my bangs out. I didn’t cut my hair until I was a few years older, so it wasn’t that traumatizing, but for young-teen me, it was definitely a moment.
Of course, now I can look back at that incident and laugh at the absurdity of it all. At the time, I couldn’t see the amusement in it. I can say that it taught me two things:
1. Don’t brush your hair out of your face while you are eating. Do it before.
2. Always be careful with the cream cheese. You never know when it will decide to make a break for your eyebrows. YOU JUST NEVER KNOW.
