Mole removal a win-win for marriage

The gigantic, disgusting, protruding mole just above my left eye is gone.
A dermatologist removed it this week, years after my wife, Jenny, started bugging me about seeing one to look at all the moles, growths and weird things growing throughout my body on my skin.
For years, I refused to give in to her wish for me to see a dermatologist. I’m stubborn – it’s in my family’s blood – and I figured it would be a waste of time, as well as money. I’ve always been a moley person, along with both my mother and grandmother – also in our blood. Fortunately, the bad things that sometimes come with moles, skin cancer and melanoma, are not in our blood, so I felt safe in not going to the dermatologist.
Jenny refused to put the issue to rest, telling me I should make an appointment. I was steadfast in my determination not to, mostly to retain my pride in being the most stubborn person in the marriage.
“I really wish you would see someone about those moles,” she would tell me.
“I’ve had them since I was a kid,” I would reply. “When you married me, you married my moles.”
“I guess that makes me Mrs. Mole Steuck.”
I realized late last summer I need to stop being stubborn, and for my wife’s happiness I should have my moles checked out. I had her make an appointment, which was scheduled for November.
Several weeks before the appointment, the dermatologist’s office called and said the doctor needed to reschedule, much to my pleasure. Even better, their next available date was not until March. I happily said yes to the new date.
My happiness turned to sadness when Jenny informed me the dermatologist could remove my giant mole above my eye during the appointment. “Why didn’t you tell me that before?” I asked. “I wouldn’t have argued with you about the appointment.”
“I assumed you knew that,” she said.
I didn’t. My stubbornness got in the way of me seeing some of the benefits to this appointment, and now I was left waiting for something I really wanted that I could have had done years before.
Fortunately, March came quickly. Normally apprehensive about any doctor appointments, I was eager to get to this one, arriving early and hoping they could get me in early. They did, and when the dermatologist saw me, she asked me why I was there.
“To get this thing (pointing to the giant mole above my eye) removed,” I said. “Oh yeah, and to have you look at all my other moles, per my wife’s request.”
And then she said something that almost crushed my spirit. “Well, I can’t just remove a mole because you find it ugly. We need a reason to remove it.”
I was too honest to make up any reason other than my intended reason – it’s ugly – so I immediately assumed my mole would remain. Thankfully, she found a reason. “Do you have an old driver’s license?” she asked.
In my wallet I had my current license, taken in October, as well as my old one, taken many years prior to that one. She had me take them out, and then compared the two photos, noting the mole had grown over the years, giving her a reason to remove it.
After examining my body, she found three other moles she wanted to remove, for precautionary reasons and to have them tested. As long as she was taking out the ugly one, I was fine with whatever she did.
Removing the moles was painless, and now those spots are healing. The dermatologist said she doesn’t think she’ll find anything wrong, but she’ll call in about a week to let me know for sure.
I’m not worried, and now Jenny and I are both happy. She’s no longer “Mrs. Mole Steuck” (technically, she still is, as my moles are still there – but she’s much happier about them), and I’m free of an ugly sight I never thought could be gone.