Learning to Live With Vitiligo
@Everyone has a sort of avatar, a mental image of an ideal self that sits in the corner of your consciousness, sneering or smiling, as you surf the day.// ©You, walking the city streets.// You, skulking out of the movies.// You, riding the mechanical bull atGilley*s.//
@Over time, the way you see yourself and the way that you are seen the avatar and the reality drift further and further apart until, one afternoon ©, you come around a corner at the Danbury Fair Mall, catching your reflection in the window of the Apple Store, and wonder, **Who the hell is the old guy covered in spots?**
@ My avatar is 22.// His hair is spiked.// He wears torn jeans and a jacket like Fonzie*s in early © episodes of **Happy Days.//** His facial expression is constant: mild amusement, unconcerned.//