Scars

"It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars.
--Garrison Keillor"


Scars.

I don't think there's a person in the world who doesn't have a scar or two.

Oh, they're not always visiable...some of my most pronounced scars aren't the kind you can see on my skin. They're deeper...in my soul.

Like the time my first real love broke up with me. Left me for another woman (if you can believe that!). I cried until I was hoarse. I sobbed until I couldn't speak. Tears ran from my eyes until I was sure I was going to drown the world. I'd never felt such a mind-numbing, bone-chilling pain. I didn't think it would ever go away, and I was positive that I'd never let anyone hurt me like that again.

But I did. And I did. And although it didn't turn out the way I would have liked...it was better than before.

Or during 9/11. You all know how deeply that affected me. Ya'll know about the nightmares and the sadness that overtook me.

But my scars aren't only emotional...hell, I've got more than my share of physical scars too.

The one on the bridge of my nose where a boyfriend's ring caught me, just before he broke my cheekbone and my nose.

The one that's shaped like a cresent moon on the right side of my knee. I got a piece of glass lodged in there when I was about 10. Mom pulled the glass out, but the scar reminds me to never count on the hand brakes of your Schwinn ten speed bicycle.

Or more recently, the one on the top of my hand, the one that's shaped like the letter "M". That scar is compliments of a terrier/chihuahua mix at school who really, really didn't want a shot of Reglan. I used the leash to muzzle him, but I hadn't counted on the nails on his paws being quite that sharp.

The thing about scars, I believe, is that if you don't have any, then you probably never risked anything. Fall in love and you risk getting hurt. Ride a bicycle, and you risk crashing into something.

Life is about taking risks.

And I'd rather have the scars that remind me that at some point in my life, I risked something, than to not have any scars at all.