Wednesday, September 14, 2011

All It Took

Poor me. Poor, poor me. Walking in the rain to the medical building to have my blood drawn. Then the lab was closed down, door locked. Moved to another location. On the cell phone, in the hall listening to the robot lady on the phone tell me of another lab I could go to. Poor me.

All it took was a peek into another room on my way out. The cancer room. A chubby mama, holding her baby with the daddy near by. Cancer? In one of them? How about a peek into the dialysis room? A woman with a ruddy face and watery eyes tucked her dry, messy hair into a baseball cap. Waiting to recycle her blood so she can stay alive.

All it took was a book I'm reading in the waiting room about the Irish potato famine. A mom waking up with no more milk to feed her baby. Pricking the vein of her horse to feed her sons with blood. Fever, death, shallow graves in frozen ground.

I recently ate a dinner with potatoes. They were piled high on my plate, steamy and covered in ketchup. I ate so much I felt sick the rest of the night.

I felt so lucky to make dinner for my kids tonight. Dropping sticky dumplings into a rich soup of fish, onions and cream. I hear them slurping the dregs from the kitchen.

I wonder how many days I've truly, truly worried. I worry about if I have too many dimples on the backs of my thighs to go swimming in public. I worry if my Tivo recorded Vampire Diaries. And of course, like all of us, I have true worries.

But for the most part, I have a blessed life. I need to worry more about my hands. What have they done to lift another today?

7 comments:

Michelle said...

Love the post, Angie!

kiki comin said...

loved this. so true. hope your day ended well.:)

Kara said...

Thanks so much for the great reminder! I've been thinking about that A LOT lately and reading Galway Bay has definitely added to that feeling. Good book choice, and another great post!

Kimberly McKay said...

Awesome post. I feel the same way about my life...truly blessed. I'm so glad God has given you such a great insight on your life. Glad you stumbled onto my blog, so I could stumble back onto yours. :) I look forward to reading more. Do you twitter? If so find me at @wornoutwoman. :)

Stacie said...

Good post, miss angie!

i said...

I totally need to remember this... No famine here for sure! I feel soooo spoiled at times. You are a good woman.

The Hamiltons said...

I loved this. Really makes you feel so grateful for all that we have.. Being healthy, food on the table and a safe and warm place to lay our heads. Thanks for the reminder!