Cracks

One day last year, the Faery and I were having a conversation when she began staring intently into my eyes.

"Mum, what are those cracks in your eyes?"

Was she talking about my crows feet laughter lines? "They're called wrinkles."

"No, Mum, not your wrinkles. I mean, what are those red cracks in your eyes?"

I was confused, but then the penny dropped. My eyes must have been looking red, so I explained to her about small veins, and the role of veins in our bodies.

Wrinkles, blood-shot eyes... either way, boy did I feel attractive. Yeah, baby.

Apart from a quick status update about it on Facebook that day (which resulted in many amused comments), I'd forgotten about this particular exchange.

Until the other day.

I was going through the wad of school worksheets from last week that the Faery had brought home in her bag. She is currently in a bilingual Kindergarten program, and learning Korean, so it seems like there is double the amount of stuff to sort through each day.

Amongst her worksheets, I found this:

In case you missed it, take a closer look.

I felt compelled to ask her what the red lines were. Don't ask why.

With a roll of her eyes and a big sigh, "They're veins, Mum. Remember? You told me eyes have veins."

I wonder how long she's going to add this detail to her rendition of eyes. How often do her teachers encounter children who insist on drawing eyes in clear need of Visine?

I consoled myself with the fact that at least my eyes are green. That stoned, blue, blood-shot eye belongs to someone else...