Miraculous Mole

To my son Tommy,

The other day I noticed a single dark mark on your neck.  At first, I assumed it was dirt and tried to wipe it off.  When that admittedly superficial attempt failed I assumed it a skin blemish of sorts be it a freckle or skin tag or mole.  I figured your old dad had just not been observant before and you probably had it for some time.  It may have even been a birth mark as far as I was considered and it was definitely something that I should probably have already known about so I just kept quiet.

Later that night when mommy and I were putting you to sleep, your mother points out the same mark.  She asked me if I had ever seen it before as she dug at it with her nail and finger to make sure you hadn't gotten a  piece of cookie stuck to your neck or worse yet a tick or some other bug.  She proclaimed with astonishment that it was a mole and asked in bewilderment how a mole can "just appear".  Little did she know her bewilderment had just begun.

Your mother and I agreed that we should mention it to your doctor and have him take a look more as a precaution.  It wasn't oozing or bleeding and it didn't have an irregular shape or something like that, it was just the sudden appearance that had us shaken.  We looked up some info on the internet and basically figured moles and other skin blemishes had to appear sometime and guessed now would have been as good of a time as any.  We head off to sleep.

The next day, I wake up, regard your mother (see yesterday's post), give you a kiss and head off to church.  In my usual things that I pray for I do believe I mentioned your mole.  Church finished and off I went to work.  Later that day I get a call from your mom, or perhaps I called her,  just to chat and catch up and say the usual I love yous.  With quite some amazement and confusion, your mother relays to me that when you finally got up she went to look for this mole again.  It was gone.  Not a single mark remained, no scab, no blemish to tell us you picked at it, nothing.  You told you mom your nipple had disappeared.  (You have trouble discerning the differences between moles, skin tags, and nipples and you constantly ask questions about which is which).  I mentioned to your mother that I did pray about it but, though true, I kind of was just teasing her a bit.  I was incredulous but sure enough when I got home for the inspection, no mole or mark on your skin.

I am not saying this was an all out miraculous healing.  Chances are this was some dried on dirt that just was entirely too stubborn for your mother's nail.  Or I am sure there are twenty other explanations from the basic to the extraordinary, perhaps including a shared hallucination between your mother and I that spanned a large amount of time.  Okay, I didn't say all twenty explanations were entirely believable.  Whatever the reason that solves the mystery, the fact is there was something we were concerned with and now it is gone.  Always remember miracles don't need to be magical or unexplainable or so amazing that they are instantly identifiable.  The most mundane event with the most basic explanation can be just as miraculous.  The mark that we were worried about is gone and that in and of itself is a miracle no matter what the reason.  We will, of course, mention it to your doctor in case anything arises again or that the fact that it disappeared is of medical concern.  But for now, we will just be happy telling the story of "Tommy and the Disappearing Mole" and let others decide for themselves what exactly happened.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo