Thursday, March 20, 2014

in clover: if you give a girl a tea towel.....

My sweet friend Angie sent me a care box full of lovies a few weeks ago.  In it was all sorts of chicken cuteness...a little chicken whisk...a little chicken tea cozy....a little chicken cookie cutter...and on and on.  I had written to her about my jaw pain and she wanted to raise my spirits.  I liked everything but I absolutely adored the tea towels she included.  I hung them on my stove handle but I didn't really want to leave them there because I'm messy when I cook and I was sure I would splatter and stain them.  No way was I going to use them for drying my counters or cleaning in my kitchen.  I am as hard on tea towels as I am on shoes! I couldn't bear to put them away, though, so I hung them on the stove handle. Since I was feeling so badly, I wasn't cooking anyway. They seemed safe.  And they made me smile every time I saw them.  Sort.  Actually, my jaw pain made smiling more painful than almost anything else. 

Once I realized that the jaw pain I was experiencing was not going to go away easily, I did some research.  I found out that one of the best places in the US for treatment of this kind of pain is right here in Lexington.  Darn near right across the street from my house, in fact.  It's called the  Orafacial Pain Clinic at the University of Kentucky.  And there is a very long wait list to get in. Apparently this is an all too common source of pain....mostly for women.....mostly in my age category.  I know a lot of UK folks and a lot of doctors and I called everyone I could think of...and my dentist did too....but I was not able to get an appointment any sooner than two and a half months out.  

But exactly one week ago, I got in! (That's another post!)  I got in and I was truly amazed by the compassionate and skilled work that is being done there.  I'm beginning to feel much better and I am now hopeful that I will eventually be pain free again.  It could take several months but I am prepared for that now.  

All of this to say that yesterday I was able to do more than I have been able to do in months! 

I...

...went back to the gym with Michael and did a light cardio work out....first time in over six months!

...went to the market and actually enjoyed picking out food and planning meals

...came home and cooked...I cooked two different soups, a full dinner AND an entree for later in the week

...worked with some of Big C's senior pictures in my photo editing software and made some plans for his graduation celebration

...laughed and smiled, and it only hurt a little

...and I found a great place for the cute tea towels...as part of the window treatment in my kitchen.  






If you give a girl a tea towel....she'll hang it in the window.  

Where she can see it, all the time, and think of her sweet friend and smile.  

And after she's hung the tea towels in this unconventional way, she'll realize that she's beginning to feel like herself again.  

Herself again, but different too.  

Because now she she has an idea of just how many people are in physical pain, all the time.  And how awful that is.  And she will be different now.  More grateful. More empathetic.  More aware.  

She'll do her best to be more of those things.

Namaste, 

Lisa 


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4 comments:

  1. Love this post, Lisa! Especially the part about you getting treatment, feeling better,and being optimistic about being pain free in the foreseeable future! I have 2 vintage tea towels with cats on them that I actually put in poster frames (lucite - light weight) and hung above my french doors in my dining room. They are works of art as are your roosters! Keep writing and I'll keep reading! You are inspirational!

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    1. Thank you, dear Linda! You are very kind. What a great idea. I have some tea towels embroidered by Mike's grandmother that I do not like to use. I had not thought to frame them! Great idea! Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Beautiful! So glad you are beginning to get some relief!

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  3. SO glad to hear this news, Lisa! Keep on getting better and better.:-)

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