Small Stuff
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A drabble by Lora Guy

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Time and again, I remember Dear Abby giving the advice "Don't sweat the small stuff." Don't get upset by the insignificant. Good advice, but I like to push it a bit further. Latch on to the small stuff. Hold on to the little things; get excited about them. Because in reality, it's all those little things that add up and truly make you who you are.

As I went through the process of learning to present myself to the world as a woman, I found I was surprised by the most unbelievably trivial thing. It had nothing to do with the secret world behind the washroom door (all stalls and bigger mirrors, no surprise there). It didn't even come as a shock that for the most part, the world accepted me. I did come across the odd jackass once in a while, but most folks are good people who just see what they expect to see. No, I was actually surprised when I discovered one of the properties of eyebrow hairs.

For ten years, I'd been shaving the whiskers off of my chin. Afterwards, one cup full of water and all those thousands of little hairs would disappear from the bathroom sink. No fuss, no bother, they'd just scurry down the drain. But a plucked eyebrow hair is different. The instant it touches the sink, it seems to grow roots. You can try and push it in five different directions with flowing water, and it just holds on and pivots like kelp attached to the sea bed.

I'm sure that half of the country's population sees this effect on a regular basis and thinks nothing of it. But the first time I saw it happen, I thought, "Wow, men don't know about this, just women... like me." I was giddy, and a little choked up. It was such a defining moment, I brought it up the next time I saw my therapist. She couldn't keep the smile off of her face when she saw how animated I was over it. All those "firsts" going on in my life, and I chose eyebrow anchoring to get excited about. I'm glad she smiled. When I think back about it, she could have looked at it as a sign that I was losing my marbles.

That was a few years ago. And it's funny how it still has an effect on me. Occasionally I start to feel that my existence has leveled off into a humdrum normality; the excitement of becoming me is starting to fade. But then I think back about how pleased I was to discover that little fact about being an eyebrow-plucking woman and I'm overwhelmed by a sense of satisfaction, of achievement. Like I figured out the secret password for the best club in the world.

Abby had a point. Don't sweat the small stuff. Just hold on to your wonder about it.