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.
