Pink is the New White

My Joycie was never much of a girlie-girl when she was little, nor was she a devoted tom-boy. She would occasionally put a dress on, but nothing frilly or, God forbid, pink. Her previous aversion to pink became nothing but a memory last year. That was when Joycie was influenced by Mary Anne, her former boyfriend's mom. Mary Anne is one of those very pretty women, who would be beautiful in an old t-shirt and sweat pants, but who always looks great. Mary Anne has that dress sense and the hair, makeup, nail polish, etc. sense that somehow eludes me. You will mostly see me in a bluejeans and tennies, likely wearing a cotton shirt, more often than not, bought in the men's section, because I hate the shiny fabrics and bright colors and odd motifs of shirts in the women's section. Give me a simple blue shirt with a handy pocket for my notes, and made of nice, soft washable cotton. Oh, yeah, and give it to me cheap & make it easy to find, because most of the time, I hate shopping. Once in a blue moon, I like to shop. Mary Anne is a shopper, and now Joycie is, too. My girl loves to shop for clothes. Joycie picked up on Mary Anne's sense of style, and she developed her own, which is wonderful. (*Sigh* I miss Nathan. Can't tell Joycie that, though, she gets ticked at me. I guess I said that too much. I miss Mary Anne, too, and Nathan's dad, Jesse. But I really, really miss Nathan.)

So anyway, I loved Mary Anne's influence on Joycie, and pink is a great color on my girl.

Except, of course, when it's in the eye. Pink eye. Conjunctivitis. Ugh. This past Thursday evening, Joyce's left eye was bothering her, and we thought it was just the problems she had recently with her contacts coming back again. But it is not. It is pink eye. This morning, she woke with a gunked up, swollen eye and in a lot of pain. I had to take Sam to his basketball clinic, so Joycie & I didn't get into the urgent care office until about 12:30pm. After about 3 hours of waiting, seeing the doctor and waiting some more, we were referred to an eye doctor. The eye doctor on call for this weekend is located in another town, about a 40-minute drive. He was great, and spent a lot of time examining Joyce. Constantly using some of that hand sanitizer gel. Conjunctivitis is very contagious, in case you're living in a cave somewhere and don't know that. He told Joycie what behaviors could help her avoid spreading it. Several things she could do, like not share pencils, use a kleenex once and throw it away herself, if she uses a glass or something, to put it in the dishwasher herself, don't share drinks, basically don't touch anything and then let someone else touch it, and don't sneeze or breathe moistly in someone else's face. Too late. She and I already crossed those lines all afternoon...

Wonder how I'll look in pink.