"I have more left handed gloves than I know what to do with," I would often say. Other times I might say, "I have a closet full of left handed gloves." Once my room mate mentioned he lost one of his gloves. I knew by the look on his face he did not really want to say that to me. After a somewhat long and awkward moment I asked, "was it the left glove?" He replied with, "I knew you were going to ask that question! I am not ready to give up on the right handed glove just yet. Give me a few more days to see if it will show up somewhere." So I did. I actually gave him a week. Then one day I asked him if he ever found that glove. It was at that point he gave me the right hand glove saying he never found the left one. He did finish the conversation with, "well at least that one glove will be put to good use."

Living this one handed life does give me an interesting perspective. Especially when it comes to gloves. And at the same time I do encounter difficult obstacles and circumstances. Especially when it comes to gloves. Sometimes you got to look at it from my side of the "two-handed coin." Most people I know have two hands and we do live in a two-handed world. It is fair to say most gloves are sold in pairs with a left and right side. Not so good for me. For a long time I did have quite the large collection of left hand gloves. If I deeply want a pair of gloves I have at times just bought the pair to get the right side. But then I feel like I got the short end of the stick. I mean I paid full price for something which I only need half of and can really only use half.

On a couple of occasions I took my stock of left hand gloves to the second hand store... (There is a joke there somewhere!) I was moving and downsizing and just did not want to deal with the extra "baggage." Other times I gave an extra glove to a homeless person. Not a solid giveaway in my opinion but 50% better for them in their current situation. When I was attending the University of Washington in the city of Seattle someone told me about a website where one-handed people exchanged the gloves they do not use. I love this idea. Though I have never offered to this service or benefitted from it I still find the whole idea absolutely beautiful. I hear there are websites for people with one foot to trade shoes.

My best solution has been to go to store and ask if they have any mis-matched gloves. My other best option and one that has worked a number of times has been to ask if I can get one right hand glove for 50% off and then mention they can send the other back to the manufacturer. What has worked better has been to ask if I can put two right hand gloves together and pay full price. Then the store can send the two lefts back to the manufacturer saying they received incorrect stock. This whole plan of action works best when the gloves are not to costly. However, trying to buy a very nice high quality pair of gloves can cost a pretty penny and this approach has not worked well for me.

What has worked well for me when I was younger was to just put two right hand gloves together at the store, put my left arm in my pocket, and hope I can get through the check-out without getting caught. Not very ethical but very fruitful to say the least. I have scored many a good "pair of rights" this way. And at the same time I have been busted many times trying this approach. This was an idea I had when I was very young. Seemed to make a lot of sense at the time. I will never forget the first time I tried to do it. Despite my first time was foiled by my childhood friend who was with me I learned so much about my one-handed life in this two-handed world. I also learned a lot about how most people think when they are not really thinking. At least not thinking about my one-handedness. I guess I can understand. It is a two-handed world.

What happened when I first tried to buy two right gloves for the first time ha...