Babies and glassware – never a good combination! I had a special little baby visiting at my house the other day and I forgot to put up a “pretty” that should have been in my china cabinet. The adorable little baby was proud of the possession that she found and as she carried it into the room to show us, she dropped it and it broke. As I consoled the baby’s mother, I said “Oh don’t worry about it! I can superglue it, put it up in the cabinet and no one will ever see that it was broken.”
Later that day, something rared up that reminded me once again of my physical limitations. I had this deep desire to punch my useless legs and growl in frustration! In my moment of self-pity, I thought how when people get a virus they are miserable and can’t wait to get well. Once they are “normal” again, all the memories of their misery get diminished and they go their merry way. But when you have a permanent disability, you aren’t allowed that luxury. You must deal with your trouble every single day. Suddenly though, that broken platter flashed through my mind. I immediately wished for disability superglue to fix my problems! Then I could sit on my shelf and look normal again. Wait a minute! Sit on my shelf and look normal? Have I learned nothing through my brokenness? Do I want to erase all that? No, I don’t. Who get’s to decide normal anyway? Maybe normal is realizing that we are all broken somewhere and sometimes in life, there are no permanent fixes. Maybe normal is being comfortable, maybe not physically as we deal with real pain, but emotionally. Comfortable in the new me and the new opportunities it may allow me in life. Maybe those who are truly broken are the ones who perceive themselves as completely normal and in need of no help in their lives.
Thanks to my broken pretty, it taught me something. I will not sit on a shelf and try to “look” normal and be of no use. I will BE normal! I will take my brokenness and allow it to be a visual reminder to me that only I get to decide what truly being normal is. Others should not get that freedom in my life. Broken? Well, physically, yes. Some parts do not work like they were designed to work. But broken and useless? No way!
And for my broken pretty? I don’t think I will put it away and let it look good. I think I will display it – to thank if for the lesson it taught me!
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