Top Ten Tuesdays

The saying “You don’t miss something until it’s gone” is such an integral part of my life now. There are so many things that people take for granted; so many things that I took for granted prior to becoming ill. I’d get aggravated by the weather if I happened to want to take the kids to the beach and it was raining.  I’d be peeved when someone would leave crumbs on the kitchen counter. I could get irritated when I wanted to wear a favorite shirt only to find that it was in the laundry and I’d have to find something else to wear. Now, these things that seemed like annoying issues at the time; I wish I had now. Thinking on all these things brings me to simple things that people take for granted. So here’s my Top Ten Tuesday list for today in no particular order:

Top Ten Things That I/Some People Take For Granted:

1. Waking to a new day each and every morning. As a chronically ill person, sometimes the thought of going to sleep is frightening as there are times when I think I might not wake up. Thus, the reason I now wear clothing to bed; I would hate for the EMT’s to see me naked, not to mention my poor children having to dress me prior to said EMT’s entering the house to take my body out. And, yes, I worry about my kids as well. So I’m thankful each and every morning that I wake up…and I’m fully clothed.

2. Awesome Husbands/Spouses.  There are people I know that complain endlessly about their spouses (and some with good reason), but I’ve also known people to have veritable saints for husbands and still find fault. I wouldn’t know where I’d be without my Big Handsome, and I make sure he knows that daily.

3. Going to the grocery store. Millions and millions of people complete this task on a daily basis and multiple times at that. I used to just get in my car and go, here, there, and everywhere. Now, I have a hard time getting to the grocery store, in fact, Big Handsome does the shopping now; how sad is that. I would hazard to guess that it is even more sad that a trip to the grocery store would be a feat in and of itself for me (might even be cause for a party provided I wasn’t too worn out from the shopping trip), yet most people accomplish this chore daily and don’t even think about it.

4. The backspace key. How many people even give this wonderful button a second thought? I know I do, quite frequently at that. If someone were to examine my keystrokes, they would see really quickly that the backspace key is my most frequently used key. With constant brain fog and a total lack of hand-eye coordination, I’m surprised that I can type at all.

5. Eyesight. Clearly, I’m thankful that I still have my eyesight for the most part. Recently, I’ve had to put reading glasses to use as my arms are no longer long enough and my kids wouldn’t be willing participants in holding papers three feet in front of me so that I could read them. Not only that, but it seems as though my eyesight gets worse by the day. I have to set the font type on 14 as I type this two feet from my face, just so I can see what I’ve written, and even then, that’s provided the floaty protozoan thingys in my eyes are swimming away from my center of vision.

6. Vacuuming. I know most people see this as a chore; I see it as an accomplishment in my house. I do have children that are perfectly capable of vacuuming, but I just can’t give up one of the things that I can still do relatively well, even if it takes a while, sometimes days to complete.

7. Chores in general. Vacuuming got me started thinking of all the chores around the house that need to be done and while most people see these as annoying chores, I see them more as opportunities. I used to dread and take chores for granted. I know, I might sound crazy, who would ever consider household tasks as something exciting. For a person living with chronic illness, I tend to hold on tight to the abilities that I still have and hope to continue having. Being able to complete a chore is an accomplishment as well as a moment of pride. Do I enjoy swishing the toilet? Honestly, no, but I can say that I don’t take that job for granted any longer.

8. Normal body function. Most people wake and totally take for granted that they can get out of bed, go to work, take care of family, etc. with minimal care about their bodily functions. As a person with chronic illness, I’ve become attuned to every breath. I can tell when my bp is up or down, when my breathing is shallow, when my heart rate is skyrocketing; you get the idea. Most people don’t give any of this stuff a second thought, and four years ago, I didn’t either. I never gave any of this “normal” functioning a thought at all, never crossed my mind. Of course, at that time, I was thinking about hopping in the car at any given moment to go to any given place.

9. Cooking. I would think that most people see this as just one more thing on the “to do” list for the day. I mean, I think there is some sort of law that states we have to feed our children daily, right? I was one of these moms that used to cook a well balanced breakfast (usually hot) every morning, make all sorts of fun stuff for lunch daily, and cook dinner at least 5 nights a week. Yes, I used to hate the dreaded question “What’s for dinner?” now; I’d give just about anything to cook for my family again.

10. Exercise. Granted, these days exercise is everywhere and many people engage in this activity for their physical health as well as mental health. Then, there are those that complain about their weight, or how tired they are, or how they can’t get to sleep, blah, blah, blah, but they choose not to do anything about it. Let me tell you, I bet if their ability to exercise was taken away, they’d think otherwise and start exercising. I used to walk, run for miles, ride my bicycle, run around with the kids; all sorts of physical activity. Now, I’m reduced to Wii bowling.

While I used to be one to take for granted every one of the above listed items, and while most of the items seem mundane to say the least, I certainly have learned to appreciate the small things in life.

So, appreciate the little things and the big things for that matter! Don’t wait until something is gone to miss it. Live each and every day as if tomorrow you could be diagnosed with some weird-off-the-wall-chronic illness-that not to many doctors know about-much less treat.

Try to find joy in all things, even if it is just swishing the toilet.