It took me years to find my soulmate. Not that I was going to be confused with Scott Baio, with a line of women around the corner to choose from.

At any rate, the wife and I took the plunge almost 21 years ago, when we found the "right fit." I say the "right fit" because both of us are left-handed.

So us two lefties produced an offspring over a year later and after counting fingers and toes (and passing a medical exam) my next concern was, rightly so, if she'd be a southpaw.

I can't remember exactly when I noticed that she was not "one of us," but soon she was grabbing for items with the other hand, even as I tried to persuade her otherwise.

I've heard of people "training" their kids ages ago by binding their left hand often enough to make them favor the right, and I never put much thought into that with my own. Seemed a bit cruel, to me.

But I have always been of the opinion that lefties have to overcome so much just to try and live a normal life, that they don't take much for granted and come out on the other end more well-rounded than their righty counterparts.

I got a taste of being a righty in high school, having had my left arm broke playing football my senior year. For months I had to write with my right hand, as well as do all the normal day-to-day tasks with such. I swear, if I'd been a righty, I'd of been a pretty sorry example.

Sometime after we were married, a trip to San Diego led me to a store chock full of left-handed merchandise. Some was just gag gifts, but other items were just mirror-image versions of everyday useful items.

A quick Google search brings up leftyslefthanded.com, which boasts "everything for the left-hander."

Most are scissors and kitchen tools, but they even had lefty notebooks, lefty tape measures, lefty books and lefty watches.

Us leftys have come so far, we even rule the White House these days. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and Harry Truman are some of the southpaw commanders in chief.

Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte raised their left hands in leadership.

Heck, we even command late-night television, with David Letterman and Jay Leno.

Tom Cruise, (that Oprah couch jumper), Robert DeNiro, Richard Dreyfuss, Carol Burnett, Dan Aykroyd, Charlie Chaplin, Goldie Hawn, Rock Hudson, Shirley MacLaine, Steve McQueen, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ryan O'Neal, Robert Redford, Julia Roberts and Matrix master Keanu Reeves are a sampling of southpaw actors. By the way, Ms. Winfrey herself grabs for the baked ham with her left hand.

But the biggest impact we lefties have had is with music. Two Beatles (Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr), Jimi Hendrix, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, Glenn Frey of the Eagles, Seal, Paul Simon, Phil Collins, Judy Garland and Kurt Cobain, to name just a few, lived the lifestyle leaning to the left.

So yes, us lefties are not going away, and yes, we pull our fair share in this world. You righties can say what you want about us, but in our world, you've been "left" behind.

Jerry Hitchcock is a copy editor for The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2017, or via email at [email protected].