lordperiwinkle

My aunt was born in 1920. When she was a kid she had a severe case of measles. She lost her sense of smell. Many years later, in her 40s she was having sinus problems so she needed surgery. They reamed out her sinuses and after that she was able to breathe again. And her sense of smell returned. She began enjoying food for the first time in decades. The downside was she had forgotten that some things stink.

Not everyone has one you know. In order to get a FBI file you have to be suspected of doing something criminal like heading to a country that is busy murdering its citizens by the truckload and espousing ideology contrary to a civilized society.

Did you ever participate in any of these sessions where the youth learned how to be vocal to their parents and authority figures? I remember reading about one event where teachers sat imprisoned in a stadium to be humiliated by a mob of red army youth. They had ink poured over their heads and pails filled with rocks suspended from their necks. They had placards that read 'reactionary academic authority so-and-so', class enemy so-and-so' by them. I don't think any of these teachers survived long after this. This type of thing was common then. Did you ever participate in such? Did you ever point your finger in accusation knowing that to do so meant torture and death?

My mother had alopecia like what you describe when I was a kid in the 60s. She took it real hard. She had a period of time when she was under incredible stress; she had been very ill, and then her mother was murdered, and she and her siblings lost the estate in a fixed legal battle. I was a small kid and did not know the details. Anyway, she began losing patches of her hair. She would make us kids walk behind her when we were in public so we could alert her if her bald spots were showing. I so wish for her now, that just shaving her head had been a style option for her. She had a lovely, sculpted face and would have looked incredible. She kept having the random bald spots throughout my childhood, finally, it just sort of stopped and her hair grew normally.

"voluntold"

This made me smile.