That One Person

That one person who sticks to your memory and you can't shake them off. For me that was Mrs. Zim. She was just a stressed out teacher. She would scream at us when she was having a bad day. We would have Times Table test where she would call on one of us individually and if we got a question wrong she would embarrass us in front of the class. My parents told her about my hair pulling. She was kind to me and didn’t yell at me as much as the other kids. My peers noticed the special treatment I was receiving. I was then called "Teacher's Pet" and was often teased. Ms. Zim took me out of class regularly. The first I remember her telling me about Trichotillomania, as if I didn't know already, and how she played with her too and like the softness of it. At that time I smiled at her, I was naive.

 Now, I am horrified that she did that. How dare she compare her normal hair playing with my Trich!  

     She wasn't the one suffering from stares everywhere she went. 

     She wasn’t the one being whispered behind her back. 

     She wasn’t the one wearing a bandana everyday to cover up the damage.

     She didn’t have her friends ask her why she always wore it or pull if off her head because they thought it was funny.

 She then told me I was going to therapy and that when I came back to class I was to say that I was just at the doctor. But this only drove my classmates imaginations about me. They probably thought I had some crazy illness.

 I think she was fired after I moved away.  I wonder if I were placed in a more relaxing environment with people who truly understood Trich that it wouldn't have been such a problem. 

There's no point in dwelling on the past.