Trauma.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013. 

It's a day I will never forget. 

The shock, forever burned in my memory. 

So many fallen.

So many lost

eyelashes. 

That particular morning something caused my arm to twist; a bump, a nudge, a sporadic muscle twitch. 

The hand attached to that arm was mid-clamp with an eyelash curler. 

That twisted arm made that clamped hand accidentally rip out half the lashes on my right eye. 

Pain never set in.

I was in shock. 

A pile of my precious long black lashes collected in my lap. 

I felt my eyelid, and the void. 

I couldn't bring myself to look in the mirror. 

I was in a rush for work. 

I threw my glasses on in hopes to mask it. 

My office is across the street from a mall, and in that mall is a Sephora. 

But Sephora didn't open for another two hours. 

Those two hours were agony. 

Seconds passed by.

I was standing outside the glass doors of the store waiting for them to be unlocked. 

I rushed in at 9:30:01 am.

"Can I help you?"

"I've had a traumatic eyelash curler incident."

Gasp. "Noooo!"

"I need your help."

"Of course! Oh my goodness, are you ok? Come sit down,

 don't worry we'll fix it."

"Can it be filled in with false lashes?"

"I'll make it look like it never happened. Stay here, don't move,

 I'll get everything we'll need."

Holding back warm tears of gratitude, shock and what seemed to be displaced shame, "thank you."

New lashes, newly lined lids, freshly pampered face and a bag of free samples, I went back to work. 

Based on the one website I did research on, before I became depressed, eyelashes grow in cycles. 

The cycle lasts a few weeks. 

Depending on when in the cycle my lashes were ripped out, it could take months for fresh ones to replace them. 

My heart sank. 

My future is eyelash glue, for months. 

Last night I finally allowed myself to look in the mirror.

Dead on. 

No fakes. 

No makeup. 

Brace yourself, I'm going to show you too. 

This is my healthy, all clean, left eye:

And my half bald right eye: 

I still shudder when I see that. 

If you feel compelled to send condolence flowers, in lieu, send cash and checks to my 

I-need-to-fill-the-void-with-mindless-shopping-including-a-stock hold-of-fake-lashes Fund.