Trina Machacek: A hard-nosed look at the nose

Apparently my nose, over the years, has grown. This is something I didn’t know. I thought my nose was cute and perky and turned up a bit on the end. But a friend of mine has recently said to me over the years my nose has grown a bit longer. In all honesty she said it while she was trying to tell me I look fine just as I am. But since then I have gotten nosey about my nose.

I looked at pictures of myself from years ago then compared them to more recent shots. Then I set them side by side to see just how long the center item on my face has gotten. Do I have to give it its own parking spot now? Will I have to back up a bit when I’m first in line at a red light so I don’t stick out enough to get tire treads across the tip of my breather? These things have now become nose, I mean news-worthy.

Daily life brings so many things to our doors that piques our interest. Sometimes it’s interesting to see which ones we attack. Like this nose thing. I had to take that next step to see just how it happens a nose grows — and when it will stop? I mean if I live to be older than dirt maybe I’ll need to put wheels under my nose. Can’t you just see all of us older set going about our daily lives with an axle stuck through our noses and wheels attached? Oh this opens up such a big door. Will there be designer nose wheels? Might you be attracted to someone by the size of their — uh — nose rims?! Let’s roll along shall we?

So yes I Googled “why is my nose still growing.” After reading about cartilage and nose holes and nose hairs, yuck, this is what it comes down to. Gravity. Yes, gravity. That natural effect that keeps our feet on the ground. Gravity it seems just keeps pulling at all of our body parts! Yikes! Well that could open up a ton of conversations.

So here’s a nose story that fits this situation. Newly married, in the olden days, to my alfalfa-raising farm boy I discovered dry alfalfa and the dust it produces made my eyes water and my nose run. Not uncommon but there was no time to do anything about it, just sneeze and bare it. So I blew my nose, a lot. Well it just so happens I blow and wipe my nose, not side to side, but up and away. This seemed to rub my other half the wrong way. So much so he would go on and on about how I was blowing my nose the wrong way! So I tried to alter my ways. But in the end my lifelong way of ending a nose blow just wouldn’t be changed. Now I see my way was probably my way of keeping my nose from growing downward so fast as to keep it perky instead of pesky.

While we’re talking noses, just what does it mean if someone says to you to not cut off your nose despite your face? I’ve given this some thought. Probably more thought than it deserves, but my thought process sometimes gets bogged down with things that have no explainable reason for being thought of. Anyway, this despite your face line conjures up a bevy of pictures. Imagine cutting off your nose in the first place. Not attractive at all! But I’ve seen on TV, right in my living room, shows where some plastic surgeons are cutting and grinding and hammering with a real hammer and chisel, noses of all sorts. Of course in the end all noses are replaced by new and fresh nose pieces. So despite the original cutting, the patient’s face will survive. Guess it all comes down to going with what you have and be happy in it.

Sure it all sounds good until you slip and fall, maybe into someone’s fist or a light pole at the bottom of the snow covered hill you’re sliding down on your new Flexible Flyer sled, and your nose gets arranged or re-arranged in such a way the holes point in different directions. Yeouch!

All things played on a level field, your nose and all your other features are the result of a long line of your ancestors “comings of togetherness.” So go with the flow, unless you can’t breathe well, then you should seek out the capable hands of a nose roto rooter guy.

Trina lives in Eureka. Share with her at itybytrina@yahoo.com