Personality Freckles

Small Child 1: Rachel?

Me: Yes?

Small Child: What are those dots on your face?

Me: Dots? What dots?

Small Child 2: He means your freckles. You’ve got millions!

I honestly had a few seconds when I didn’t know what they were talking about. What dots on my face? What freckles? Do I have random dots on my face?! Where is a mirror when I need one?! And then once the initial I-must-look-like-a-crazy-with-dots-on-my-face panic subsided I realised – those dots, those ‘freckles.’ Something so obvious to the kids, but so normal to me that I’m almost blind to them. There’s nothing like the honesty of small children (and the very elderly) to remind you of things you don’t see.

I also had a similar conversation a couple of months ago -  note to guys, when talking to a girl you’ve only just met while at a mutual friends’ wedding don’t tell her she has freckles. She won’t take well to it. Especially if she doesn’t even notice them 98% of the time. You will not get extra points for this, no matter how well cut your suit is.

Anyways, all this talk about things you don’t see that are obvious to others got me athinking – what aspects of personality are glaringly obvious to other people but not to me?

One thing I do know, apparently I need to work on being less sarcastic. The following conversation happened last friday:

Small Child: Rachel?

Me: Yes?

Small Child: I’ve finished my writing.

Me: Excellent! Well done!

Small Child: Why are you always so sarcastic?!

A couple of years ago this would have been true, but sarcasm is so 2010. But maybe sarcasm is a freckle of my personality - obvious even to seven year olds. Don't you just hate it when people misjudge or misunderstand you? Isn't that the root of most communication problems?

And for that matter, how have I misjudged people for things that I think are glaringly obvious but they just don’t see. 

What are the freckles of your personality? Have you misjudged someone for something that was obvious to you but not to them?