Perfect Imperfects

I broke my nose when I was twelve years old.

I was doing the long jump, and I landed on my nose instead of my feet. Eyewitnesses claim the jump looked extremely elegant. Boom!

I remember how my classmates gathered around me and stared wide-eyed saying, “Nina, you have a hole in the middle of your nose!” One was so stunned she almost needed medical attention more than I did.

Very encouraging. And that was even before I looked in the mirror. So the beautiful model nose I once had was gone, and a slightly suppressed cucumber remained there forever.

For a while after that traumatic event, my life was divided into two parts: “before the beautiful nose” and “after the beautiful nose.”

I used to admire pictures when life was still beautiful and my nose was just right.

I was jealous of actresses with beautiful noses (just like when you get a haircut, but afterward you feel a little sorry “for the loss,” and then you start to notice all the beautiful long hair around you).

I called myself Nina Nos (after Peter Nos). I joked that my nose came into the room first and then me. I wanted to turn back time.

A complete tragedy! And it kept happening to me – I kept sticking myself somewhere with this unfortunate nose. Once I even scraped my nose on the bottom of the pool, so I had a scab on the end of my nose! Elegant. And there you go, you can laugh out loud now.

Slowly, however, my crushed cucumber became a part of me. Slowly, my nose didn’t seem so terrible anymore. I convinced myself that you are much cooler and even special if you are not perfectly symmetrical. Slowly, the crushed cucumber became an acceptably cool cucumber.

Basically, I soon forgot about my nose. More important things came along to worry about.

One day I noticed a girl with a rather big nose in my town. She reminded me of myself. I felt a little sorry for the poor girl…

…until she spoke to me.

I swear – at that moment her nose disappeared. Instead, I only saw shiny, sparkling eyes, beautiful hair, and a smile that would blow you away.

And in the middle of it all stood a perfect nose. She was perfect. Friendly, pleasant, sincere, and full of joy and energy.

The following conclusion is probably the most cliché in the world – sometimes it’s impossible to believe, but it’s the absolute truth! So, here it goes:

It really doesn’t matter what you look like or what’s wrong with your body. The only thing that matters is who you are in your heart, even if that sounds as worn out as when your mom tells you for the hundredth time to clean your room. Your energy is what makes you beautiful. No matter what you’re missing.

It is your energy that turns an imperfect nose into a perfect one.

I’m sending a shout-out to all imperfects.

Your imperfect, Tršica Nina

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Do you have a question for Tršica Nina?

Just write to her at urednik@casoris.si. She’ll be happy to tell you something clever.

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The original version of this article was published on 17^th March.