Saturday, May 9, 2009

I have been walking around for the last week primarily feeling like a huge, sweaty, blubbery beast on four walker wheels.  When I look down, I see that I am wearing the equivalent of a knee-high sock like I wore in Junior High (my compression “sock”).  The only problem is that I am only wearing it on one leg—and, this one is bone-white, frayed on both ends, and has a ugly hole in it large enough for a tube (carrying yellow body fluid) to fit through.  No outfit on earth seems to want to blend with the orthopedic-looking white sneakers, the ever-present black “purse” (which contains the collected body juice), and the hunched over body position I seem to be in 80% of the time. 

And then . . . just when I have deemed myself too despicable to take up space on the planet, I run into someone who says, “OH MY GOODNESS!  YOU LOOK FANTASTIC!!!”

One has to wonder . . .is this what people say when they really want to run away in complete fright and horror?

Amazingly enough, when I look into their eyes and see that they are genuinely delighted at the sight of me, I realize that they are “seeing” something different than what I see in the mirror each morning.  They see someone who had ashen-colored skin three months ago and barely had the energy to carry on a two-minute conversation on the phone.  They see someone who is now “walking” down a hallway instead of being pushed in a wheelchair.   Most of all, they see an answer to prayer and a reason to give God great praise.