Knotty red hair, chestnut brown freckles and teeth too big for my small mouth, it was safe to say that when I was little I never felt beautiful or special. In fact, I was one of the shyest girls in my grade because of it.

When I look in the mirror every morning, I still see that little girl. As I brush my red hair, I remember crying for endless hours and wishing I was brunette. I remember how I would pull my hair into a pony tail because I thought no one would notice my red hair. When I wash my face in the morning, I remember asking my sister if she could put some of her “big girl” make up on me so that I wouldn’t have to see my ugly freckles anymore. Then, of course, when I brush my teeth, I remember begging my dentist for my braces, and I didn’t care how much it would hurt.

When I was little I let the bully take control of my life. I was called “BoZoe the Clown” and was teased throughout fourth grade for my red hair. One day, I was pushed to my limit. My bully wouldn’t let me sit with her or any of my friends because I didn’t look like all of them and because my being unique made me automatically weird. She looked right at me and she said, “No one likes you, Zoe, you’re a freak. You don’t belong here and you should really go sit somewhere else.” She looked at me with anger in her eyes and her nose started to scrunch up as if the sight of me was just too painful for her to see. There I was, just standing there blankly, but I was too stunned at how mean she was and the fact that no one bothered to stick up for me. I immediately ran to the nurse’s office and by the time I got there, I was sobbing and falling apart on all possible levels. The nurse let me call my mom, who called my Bubbie to come pick me up.
My Bubbie was a beautiful short blonde woman and besides her beauty on the outside, she was just as beautiful on the inside. She knew just how to make anyone smile. I told her about my bully and how horrid she had always made me feel, and my Bubbie pulled me onto her lap. She picked up a fashion magazine and pen and told me to circle every woman who I saw that was a redhead. As I looked through the magazine, I was very excited to find many models with red hair. When I finished, I circled about 20-25 women. When I was done, she looked at me and said, “Zoe, I know you’re beautiful on the inside and you should feel as beautiful on the outside. LOOK ! These models are beautiful and look just like you. They, have all the self confidence in the world! When you’re older, those girls in your grade are going to be boring and all look the same, but you’ll still have your red hair that makes you the person that’s different from most other people. You should know that being different isn’t always bad.”

My Bubbie is the reason why I now love my hair. I have been made fun of almost everywhere I’ve gone and always for the same reason because I don’t look just the same as all of my friends. When I was little I wanted to change everything that I was born with. But now, I won’t ever think about altering myself just because I’m not what everyone expects. And besides, as the saying goes, “We redheads are lucky (I am told) because god made us this way so that he could always spot us in a large crowd.”