I've got an owie. Actually, I've got many owies all over my body. I had an out-of-body experience tonight. I don't know for sure where my brain went, but it obviously wasn't here, looking out for me! I went to a place that I've been to many times and fell over the sidewalk. I thought I was on the ramp, but I thought wrong! Now, I have a very tender toe, an aching ankle, a knobby knee... My hands and wrists hurt so bad, it's hard to type this. The impact jammed my elbows. Concrete gets harder as I get older.
There have been times in my life that I had a physically demanding job. I often wondered how long I could work like that. What if I became injured? How could I do my job? I guess it was a positive thing that I didn't take my health for granted.
I don't take my brain for granted either. I am thankful for the talent (not proven yet) that God gifted me. But I have been negligent... I've taken for granted my ability to move my hands... to type.
I never thought that being a writer was something that I needed to be healthy to do successfully. I did worry that my arthritis might someday become a hindrance. So far, the effects of arthritis have been very slow and gradual, with anti-inflammatories keeping it in check. But I never worried about an accident interfering with my ability to write. Oh, how I wish not to take my hands for granted.
Hands are incredible tools. I'm not saying that without them, one could not be a writer; but it would certainly be more difficult. In writing this post, I am reminded of a blog post I wrote in March. In fact, it was the last post I wrote on my MySpace blog, before I packed up and moved here. Perhaps I'll repost it on my essays blog someday. Here is the last part of the post:
It dawned on me that the hand that applied pressure against the wound of the seventy-seven year-old woman in the floor was now the hand that cradled and comforted the four-year-old with the fever. I stopped typing just now to gaze at that hand... that hand I take for granted every day. It's remarkable. My God is so amazing!
