I am so grateful for my nails…
and especially my thumb nails.
*Smile*
A couple of weeks ago, I hooked my thumb nail on the side, so I gently cut my nail across the corner to ensure that it didn’t break and tear across the nail plate, and although it bled just a little, it was ok in a few days. I wore a plaster for a day or so, and then basically forgot about it.
On Saturday afternoon, I caught the edge of my nail on something and it was so freaking painful I almost cried. I also wasn’t careful enough getting it free and tore the end of my nail off across the nail plate… and oh my gosh it was so sore!
Of course we only had one plaster in the house which lasted a day… and it’s only until you only have half your thumb nail, that you realise very painfully how much you use your thumb for so many different things… and how almost useless your other four fingers are, without your thumb in full operation, (not quite but almost). *Sigh*
Washing my hair and showering, getting dry and tying my hair in a ponytail… getting dressed and typing… have all been a challenging trial of avoiding pain… as each little bump and knock has been agony. (How could such a tiny half torn nail protect me from so much pain… and why hasn’t my nail miraculous grown overnight to avoid such agony? Like when your body makes a scab to close a cut. Why aren’t there miracle cure all things to make it better? *Sigh* And how could a torn nail make me feel like such a baby about pain. *BIG Sigh* Next week it will be funny. *Smile* …not yet though… as I’m still enduring.)
Five days later the pain has started to ease, and the bleeding has stopped… and I am very grateful for fingernails, and toenails and especially for my thumb nails.
During the past few months of trial and challenge I have come to realise how important it is to focus on my blessings with gratitude, even for seemingly insignificant things as fingernails… which I certainly never appreciated enough until today. *Smile*
Fingernails are now very important for me… even if they are very short and unpainted. My nails were growing relatively well, but you know… I’ve been spring cleaning and sorting clutter, crafting and working… and even planting seeds and seedlings, 🙂 which are not conducive to long pretty painted nails as I don’t wear gloves.
The writer Marcel Proust said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” …and I realised I need to have new eyes during this time of challenge and be grateful for so many blessings that I take for granted every day.
I’m grateful for my eyes, and that I could watch the African Eagles that arrived in our tree early in the morning… a mature male and female obviously courting as they danced in the sky just a few metres overhead and frolicked in the tree… and a young male who joined in to flirt with the female, while the other male contested his interruption… chasing him across the sky, to return and continue courting the female, giving us a wonderful flying spectacle to watch.
I’m grateful for my hands (and my fingers 🙂 )… and that I can use them every day for so many things… washing my hair, brushing my teeth, having a shower and getting dressed. Combing my hair… moisturising my face. Typing, cleaning, and making the bed. Planting seeds and answering the phone. Watering the garden. Holding and hugging Dave good-bye as he leaves for his two month project… driving… and scratching the dog, cuddling with Jess, and stroking her back. Eating, writing… touching… even feeling. And fingernails… I am so grateful for fingernails, not the least of which they protect my nerves from pain. *Smile*
I’m grateful for my ears… they are small and cute… and allow me to listen and hear. I love music. And chatting… and talking on the phone and even listening to the other person on the phone. *Grin* Right now I can hear a dog barking… and birds chirping, and the breeze rustling the leaves in the tree.
I am so grateful for my eyes. Last year my eyes went blurry for months. I had to stop driving… then I stopped working, and I could hardly read. As I shared my frustrations with Dave, we were unable to comprehend what our lives would be like if I started to go blind as I feared. Eye drops helped, but not enough. Then we discovered after I stopped taking a medication that blurry vision was a side-effect that only very few people experience. *Sigh* It has made me so grateful for what I can see and how much easier my life is… with the gift of sight.
As I sit at my desk writing this… the front door is open and the warm air is wafting through my lounge, with the aroma of the garden, fresh and clean after gentle rain earlier in the week. I can see the sunlight dapple across the garden glinting on the leaves as butterflies and insects flutter from leaf to leaf… and I’m so grateful I can feel this winter reprieve, as the sun gently warms my cheeks. I am grateful for pizza baking in the oven… and the delicious aromas inciting the grumbles in my tummy.
Just two days ago we were bundled up complaining about the cold 13 degree Celsius weather, and today we are enjoying a balmy 22 degrees. *Grin*
I’m grateful that even though my husband is 947 km’s away on a two month work project… he has a job, he is earning an income and providing for our needs… and he will be home after the project is complete. *Smile*
I’m grateful that even though my daughter is gravely ill… she is taking the medication she needs even though it makes her feel worse, and she is brave and courageous and she will heal. *Smile*
I’m grateful that even though we have trials and challenges… I am alive… I have a wonderful family that I love… I have a blessed life that I am grateful for, and I am content.
Contentedly,
Mands
