apparently as we age we should not curse baldness, tennis elbow, wrinkles or gravity obedient body parts. instead, we need to be positive, grateful to our bodies for the years of service it has given us. the example i was given: thank your little toe for being so good to you and holding up your weight so well (hold on, are you suggesting i am fat?).
that’s true, you never appareciate teeth until the throbbing toothache subsides, or the hangnail is finally gone. everyone knows that.
but on another, ah yes, so much deeper level, have you ever congratulated your body for it’s versatility?
these days, arms for me are a shortage. not enough for my children, let alone for other uses. so i have assigned other body parts to compensate.
thank you nose for being just pointy enough to fit nicely into the elevator lift button. when my arms are full of groceries and children, instead of putting anything down, you step right in there, nose, and push in the up button.
thank you teeth for so gamely holding grocery bags, extra nappies, ties, cloths. in the early days, right after watching THE ARISTOCATS, you even held carys by the top of her onesie as i transported her from change table to bed.
thank you toes for being trainable and dextrous enough to slide papers, empty plates, laundry, books and cups over to magnificent’s side of the bed, or lift a bunch of grapes and deposit them on my lap, or to magnificents side of the bed when my arms were full of sleeping babies and i needed a new position or something to eat.
thank you chin for holding in jasper’s soother back in the days when he was dependent on one but ironically kept pulling it out. i would have a girl in each arm and no way of preventing the terror of the wayward soother. chin did double duty – propping the soother in, and preventing renegade jj hands from finding and pulling at it.
thank you knee for acting as a sebastian entertainer while my hands were occupied and i couldnot get up because i was feeding three babies. knee either bounced sebastian up and down, or was a bridge that required a special password before it would move up and let the train driver through.
we won’t win the 2005 yummy mummy body contest, but my goodness, we would do well in the multitasking competition.
Reader interactions
9 Replies to “body for life, or lives”
Loved this post! Another look in to your life, which I find so interesting.
What a wonderful post Tess. I always appeciate the creativity in your subjects. “Thank you brain for providing my friends such comic relief and food for thought”. Ya, okay, that had nothing to do with your children, but then again, YOU are the creative one….
Love Char
To my wonderful multi-tasking daughter! Amen to your blog – so true 🙂
Love, M xox
Tess: Love this post!!! Love reading your blog!! You are amazing!
Rae
Don’t know, but if I were a judge at the 2005 yummy mummy body contest you might just win. I’m sure you’d at least get an award in the 2005 yummy yummy attitude contest.
Such a great post.
I think that you should win somesort of body award for all of that… maybe not Mrs. Universe (my strech marks would prevent that..althougth they should be extra points!!) but I agree with your post..amen!!! miss ya
xo lyns
You made me smile, remembering those very hands-on, everything-on, multitasking days. My toes and chin were so very useful! (Remember trying to read a book and drink a milkshake while pumping, without spilling a precious drop?)
It’s pathetic how much I’ve forgotten. Five year olds still keep me very busy, but the challenges are more intellectual than hands-on, most of the time.
In the past I was sure I could out-diaper just about anyone. (Except maybe our local mom of quints.) Now I think I’m a world champion at getting lunch on the table, lunch eaten, faces cleaned, jackets on and out the door on our bikes to kindergarten. 45 minutes flat, on Tuesdays when we race home from music class!
C’mon, how fast can you make 4 plates of cheese sandwiches, or whatever they eat at your house? Pretty darn fast, I bet!
Ready for the Iron Chef challenge?
i’m amazed at how well you have trained your TOES! Grapes!?