I was fastening the cuffs of my shirt the other day when I had this near-morbid thought. I was imagining and asking myself… if I were to lose a hand, how would I get by? So I first tried fastening the cuffs of my Eddie Bauer shirt with one hand, lips, teeth and even my chin. Oh yeah, my chin would sure come in handy if I were one hand less.
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Happy to report, I was successful in fastening the cuffs of my shirt. But it was, I must admit, the farthest end of easy. In fact, it was not easy at all. And in all honesty, I actually cheated. 🙂 Since in my imagination I was missing the right hand (to make it harder since I am right-handed), I fastened the right cuff with my left hand. But to fasten the left cuff, I took off the shirt, fastened the cuff and put the shirt back on!
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And then when the shirt was on, I buttoned it up with my left hand, no problem. It was slow, but I did it. I was all sweaty, but with confidence I put my shirt on single-handedly. And I knew for sure, if I were to lose an arm for whatever reason, I could still don a shirt with cuffs and perhaps cufflinks.
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The only downside of having just one hand, I imagined, was that I would have to wake up earlier than usual. As every single thing would take twice as long to accomplish, I could see that I would probably experience sleep deprivation. But that was not too mind-boggling to overcome. I should be okay being Enida The One Un-Armed Woman. I was grinning with the I-be-rite-mate grin.
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It was when I had that satisfactory sneer on my face that Monchies came rushing into my room for their morning hugs. And it was then, when I was hugging them tightly with both arms, that my grin faded away. I suddenly realized that I have never in my life thanked God for giving me two good hands. How dare I imagined living with only one! Ungrateful little Enida!
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As soon as me Monchies had enough of my smothering and my smoochering, I locked myself in my room to throw all my pride and worries away, to put my hands up, to break down, to cry and to pray. In my humility, all I could ask Him then was…
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Tuhan, jaga lah tanganku ini.
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Glossary for Neil:
Tuhan = God
jaga lah = please protect/please save
tanganku = my hands
ini = this/these/here
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love this piece.