Sunday, October 16
Body Wisdom"I hate my legs, my butt, my tummy." "I wish I had a smaller waist, bigger boobs." Women everywhere have an ongoing body-bashing mentality. The body we're in never seems good enough to measure up to what the media - and the neighbors - seem to think is ideal.
I have a little secret, though. My body is perfect. Right this moment. Today. Just as it is - soft and cushy, curvy and ample. My body is perfect because it lives. It exists. It allows me to live and love, to be a wife, friend, mother, daughter, granddaughter.
Last year, I was surprised to discover I was pregnant. My body does pregnant very badly, and the months seemed beset by one complication after another. Five months ago, my daughter was delivered by emergency c-section, seven weeks early. My doctor announced to my husband and me that if he didn't take her immediately, I would die. It was more than 24 hours later before the doctors allowed me to leave my hospital room and see my daughter for the first time.
Her tiny body - a little more than three pounds - lay on a special pad keeping her body warm because she couldn't yet regulate her own body temperature. Tubes and monitors were attached all over her little frame. An IV inserted in the top of her head was masked by her dark hair. The band-aid looked at a distance like a tiny, pink bow. All of that, and she was perfect. Tiny, but perfect.
As I look at her today - still tiny, still perfect - I am amazed at her strength. Her little body has thrived. And mine survived. As I look at the two of us in the mirror, I see round faces with big smiles. I see smooth baby skin and aging mama skin. I see two healthy bodies. Perfect.
All of us have perfect bodies because they live. They exist. They allow us to laugh and cry and shout. Our arms comfort a child, hug a friend, embrace love. We are strong. We work, we play, we live. And how much more perfect can our bodies be? Isn't living well the ideal?
Written in March of 2004.
[ posted by Chel on Sunday, October 16, 2005 ]
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