What is that soft, silky feeling on my fingertips? Let me try that again – my fingers gently sweeping over my eyes. “Eyelashes,” murmured mommy every time I touched it. I like it – Eyelashes. At six months old, I realized touching my eyelashes would put me to sleep. Two months later, while lying next to my parents, I realized they have lashes too – must be a genetic thing. Hmm…would touching their lashes also give me the same drowsy effect?
My two little hands comb the air, like tentacles of an octopus searching for prey.
Once I know their head’s general direction, my hands swiftly glide through their chin, nose, and finally land on their eyes. With a quick sweep through the lashes, I gain instant gratification as my entire body relaxes; as if all the burdens of being a child are lifted (it is a lot of responsibility being cute and cuddly, you know).
Sometimes, it’s annoying if they changed positions when my hands are still on their lashes and I was just about to fall asleep. To be fair, it probably doesn’t help that my hand rests on their nose for support. It is particularly funny when I hear them breathing through their mouth when they have a stuffy nose. Still, my hands would frantically search the air again, fingers twitching for the lashes, and accidentally stab their eyes with my little fingers in desperation.
Oops, that was an accident.
When I find my prize again, I’ll comb lightly over their lashes once more, back and forth until I finally drift off.
After a few months, they gave me multiple toys with lashes on it; one of them was a doll that I enjoyed. However, it miraculously disappeared the next day (that’s a story for another time). Eventually, a stuffed cow with lashes was the keeper, it’s not as good as mommy’s and daddy’s lashes, but it’ll do.