Two-Handed

I've developed a new admiration for amputees. Yesterday and today I've had my right hand (my dominant one) wrapped up in an Ace bandage in effort to support it a little bit. I'm not quite sure the extent of my injury, but it was initally caused by a fall at Garden of the Gods and made worse yesterday in a rousing game of "Duck, Duck, Goose." Actually, "Sit, Sit, Stand." Why those kids had to keep picking me I don't know. Why I didn't stop to think, "Hey, this is hurting my already semi-injured hand. Maybe I should find a different way to stand up" I don't know. But here I am in pain.

And I've realized a couple of things. First, my left hand is extremely weak. Things like opening file drawers that are usually done with minimal effort with my right hand take a considerable amount of strength from my left side.

Second, it's really hard to do normal, every day things with one hand. Even if things were reversed and my right hand was the good one, it would be a challenge. Tonight I cracked two eggs with my left hand, and assembled a lasagna the same way. It was challenging, and if Dan hadn't helped by browning the meat I think it would have been meatless.

Two-handedness is something I take for granted. But as I struggled to open a jar of spaghetti sauce tonight, I couldn't help but think how hard it would be to adjust to life permanently with one hand. On vacation we saw a woman with only one arm riding a horse. I don't know her story...if she had the arm for a while and had to adjust to the amutation, or never had it in the first place...but how much harder must simple tasks be for her than me? How many more trips from the car to the house must she take to bring in the groceries?

It always takes losing something (even temporarily) to really appreciate it.