My birthmark was a large, medium brown cafe-au-lait spot to the right of my belly button. A radiology technician once remarked that it was almost a perfect circle. At times I had been embarrassed of it but when the spot started to disappear a few years ago, I became a bit concerned.
Then I saw a photo of him. A mutual friend of ours had forewarned me that he would be posting photos for my “benefit” and to prepare myself but I had no idea it would be this. “Erich” had always refused to show the right side of his face in photos because of the long birthmark that ran alongside his cheek. When there were threats of cloning or him disappearing, someone mentioned that they could not identically copy birthmarks yet. So one of my friends, who was also an artist, sat and detailed a drawing of his mark.
His mark was beautiful. For an aspiring actor, perhaps not ideal but he was still gorgeous.
I love looking at him either way. He has a refined masculine charm that affixes my eyes to the screen. But he was not the same. The advances of cosmetic medicine helped make one of his dreams come true but what had he given up in the process?
This new photo was of “Erich” with his right cheek pointed toward the camera. His mark was almost completely gone. It was just a shadow of what was. Just like mine. One more reminder of how connected we truly are, and how much was taken from me.
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