Connie's Lipstick

As you can see from the pictures, Connie was an attractive young woman. She had smooth brown skin and a bright smile. With her great sense of humor she laughed a lot and when she did, her eyes lit up.

One day we were in our barracks room during our lunch break and getting ready to go back to our offices. Connie opened her wall locker and took out some lipstick and put it on. On her it was a a hint of color, very subtle and just enough color to slightly brighten her lips. It was pretty so I said, "Hey, can I use that too?" She told me no. I asked why and she said, "Just because. Just because I said no." I mean it really wasn't like me to settle for such answers as, "Because I told you so" and such so this was no exception but other than that, it kind of hurt my feelings. I mean, there wasn't one thing of mine I wouldn't have shared with her and I thought that was a mutual feeling. We were close as friends could be and if there was good reason she didn't want to share, why couldn't she just tell me so?

So I pressed the issue and asked her again. She still refused. I'd ask her why not and she'd just say because . . . I kept going and finally broke her and she handed me the lipstick and said, "Fine! Here, use the stupid lipstick, Melissa."

That's better --I mean, we were very close, like sisters and that's exactly how I would have treated my sister and that's exactly what my sister would have done --finally just gave in. Pleased as punch, I took the lipstick and without looking in the mirror applied some to my lips. I think Connie could barely contain herself --but she did. She said, "You happy now?" Yes, yes I was very happy. Let's go back to work.

So we parted our ways and as I was walking across the parking lot back to JAG I noticed I was getting an awful lot of strange looks. Apparently, I thought, they never saw such gorgeous lips in such a pretty color. Thanks, Connie, for the lipstick. I went back to my office and one of the guys I worked with, SGT Y, looked at me and said, "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WRONG WITH YOUR LIPS?"

Why is everyone making such a big deal about my lips I mean granted, I hardly ever wear lipstick but its not that big of a deal people! I told SGT Y it was just lipstick and he asked, "Where did you get that from?" I told him from my roommate and he told me I better go look in the mirror. I went into the bathroom and OH MY WORD WHAT HAVE I DONE?

You see, on Connie's smooth dark skin the lipstick was the perfect shade. On my pale face? Not so much. My lips were a deep BRIGHT red and I looked like an absolute idiot --a clown --like a 4 year old girl that got into Mommy's make-up. Well no wonder, I thought, Connie was so insistent I didn't wear her lipstick! I tried to get it off but unfortunately it stained my lips. Some of it came off but my lips were still bright and red and silly looking. For the rest of the afternoon people would walk into my office and either pretend they didn't notice or blurt out, "Dodge! What happened to your lips!"

Outside of the embarrassment of it all I did learn a lesson, well actually two lessons. First of all, not every woman can wear every shade of make-up. What looks good on one person might not look good on another.

Secondly and most importantly, I learned this lesson --that for the first time in my life I was color blind. When I saw Connie I did not see brown skin or notice a difference in us. She was Connie, that's it. When I asked to borrow her lipstick it never occurred to me the shade would be too dark because it never occurred to me we were different. She was who she was, I was who I was and together we were the best of friends and before or instead of seeing the color of her skin I saw her heart and soul.

I didn't realize we couldn't share the same lipstick.