Sometimes you have to lose something before you appreciate it.
The Damsel noticed that with nose hairs.
Five years ago, while taking chemotherapy, she lost all her hairs, nose and otherwise. Even the little tickly hairs inside her ears. She knew she’d miss her head hair, and oh, how she missed her eyelashes. But she never gave her nose hairs much thought.
Poor underappreciated nose hairs! The Damsel is very glad to have them back, and apologizes she never knew what they did for her until they were gone. The Damsel would rather not go into details, but let’s just say she didn’t know nose hairs slowed the effect of gravity on nasal drip.
The Damsel hopes none of you will have to go without nose hairs in order to appreciate them. She hopes you’ll simply take her word for it.
Of the many blessings (yes, there were blessings) the Damsel received through having cancer, this one is her favorite: Noticing The Little Things. She’ll never forget the words of her wise surgeon, a man who struck her as deeply content.
She asked him, back at the beginning of her treatment, “How can you keep so cheerful, when day after day you meet with people who are desperately ill, and many of your patients die?”
He replied, “I love my patients. They are people who have the light turned on. They are people who realize every new day is a gift. They see the world through different eyes than the rest of us. They inspire me to really notice and appreciate the little things.”
At that moment, the Damsel resolved to be one of those people. When she wakes up in the morning, she feels happy to see the sun shine through the window by her bed--a brand new day, as corny as that sounds. She has a little party in front of the bathroom mirror while she brushes her grown-back hair every morning. She reminds herself to notice how nice it feels to have a healthy body.
And she remembers now and then to be glad about nose hairs.
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Margot is a mom of seven and pretty much crazy from it. Online she's known as the Damsel in Dis Dress and blogs at the Old School (www.mynewoldschool.com) and twitters at elle_cosette.
