Appreciating the Common and Mundane

I've written about this before, but it light of what I am in the middle of experiencing because of my accident, I feel compelled to again write about feeling gratitude for simple things.  It seems necessary that we as mortals, and I in particular, need to be reminded at times of what I either have or don't have,

Some twenty years ago, I was taken to the ER of a local hospital in Utah unable to swallow anything but a small trickle of saliva.  I was placed in Intensive Care, diagnosed with Epiglottitis, an inflammation of the epiglottis, which is valvelike structure that covers the larynx to prevent water and food from entering.  I remember how terrifying it was to not be able to swallow, and I was administered heavy drugs to keep me from needing to swallow.  Some 48 hours later, I was released from IC and sent home, able to swallow again.  I remember that scary experience and will often make a swallowing motion to thank God for the blessing of simply being able to swallow.

In my adult life, I have twice had kidney stones.  For much of humanity, kidneys and other human organs perform their proper function without so much as a thought.  I'm not 100% sure exactly what a pancreas or gall bladder does, but for me they have simply gone about working to keep my healthy.  When those stones formed and began to descend down my urethra, scraping the interior walls and thus causing incredibly intense pain, the functioning of my kidneys came to be front and center.  About the one-half the size of my pinky fingernail, they caused such exquisite pain that I had to be injected with morphine.  I remember those scary experiences and will often thank God for the functioning of these organs, some of which I'm not even sure what they're doing.

My nephew Taylor is unable to turn his palms upward because of a birth defect. Looking at him as he eats, I notice how he has developed strategies which for him have become mindless as how to hold and position his utencils to facilitate the eating motion.  I have noticed how he performs other tasks with his palms downward that you and I would normally do with palms upward.  He has learned to play the piano because it is played with palms downward.  He learned to play the trombone and learned how to play lacrosse because they are activities that can be done with palms downward or pivoted 90 degrees.  I remember his birth defect and will occasionally rotate my palms upward and downward to thank God for something so common place.

So in October of 2013, I am recovering from a serious auto accident.  I am unable to take a deep breath, I cannot stand up or sit down or lie down without much pain and effort, it is very difficult to clean myself after using the restroom, I cannot reach down to the floor, I have had to sleep pretty much sitting up, and I am constantly in pain, albeit at a 4 or 5 level on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest.  I cannot twist my torso, I cannot walk very fast, I cannot work.  I live in fear of hiccuping, coughing, and stumbling.

But I can breathe.  Today I took a nap lying on my side even though I felt some discomfort.  I have been able to take sauntering walks with my wife.  I am able to eat what I normally eat.  I can now take a shower alone, and except for putting on socks and shoes, I can now clothe myself.  I can embrace my wife, although somewhat gingerly, and she can embrace me, although in spite of trying not to cause me any pain, she will occasionally squeeze me just a wee bit too much.  I can laugh a little, but I must watch myself to not get guffawing too heartily.

There will come a time in the future when I hopefully will have recovered from this painful physical trauma.  I want to clearly remember what I am unable to do now that I will be able to do then.  My desire will be to feel gratitude for being able to perform those common, mundane actions even when they have become common and mundane.