I was born with dark brown eyes and red hair! Which is pretty unusual. My mum took me home and two weeks later realised one of my eyes had changed colour! She thought I had turned blind and took me to the doctors.
No explanation! only that “she’s special”
I don’t really remember the first time that I realised I was different. Adults would call me special/beautiful etc , however to other children my age I was different.
I was quite an out going kid but starting school and having kids make fun of me made me quite introvert. I realise now that it is probably the reason I am quite insecure and I have trouble looking at people in the eyes, scared that they will discover my flaw.
One time I was sitting at uni with my friend when he turned and said to me “holy shit jess your eyes are different colours”…. We had been friends for 4 years!
When I was in junior school we would often have theatre companies/magicians come to the school around Christmas time to perform. One year after the performances we all went back to class. My head mistress knocked on the door and asked me to come out into the hall way, she said she wanted me to meet someone special like me, the magician had the same coloured eyes as me! I can’t remember what he said to me but I’m pretty sure it was something nice and encouraging. This was the first person id met like me. It made me feel a lot better about myself. Since then ive met a few more people with variations of eye colour like mine.
Kids were mean and would upset me, however as I got older I started to love my eyes, kids reactions soon changed to “whoa your eyes are amazing” “that’s so cool” , not the usual “ugh” “weirdo” “witch” that I was used to. It also turned into quite the pulling power!
I finally believe what those adults had told me all those years ago,
“I am special” “ I am unique” and it’s cool as fuck!
Heterochromia Photography Project - Book 