When Nothing is Normal

I look at this photo and laugh now. My mom is busy painting the house, and I have the drainage bags wrapped around my neck as a make shift necklace. I removed the tarnished cross from the silver hoop necklace and decided I needed a place to put these drainage bags so they were not around my waist all day! Because it is perfectly normal to paint, and smile with a drainage bag necklace…. right? Well, if you grew up with my mom it is. You don’t whine, and you figure out how to move through the day and you keep busy. It sure beat the alternative of sulking in the moments I could not change anyway.

Not sure what I was thinking? Clearly, I wasn’t and created a functional way that was way “past pretty”. Seemed logical at the time. But, now I know it wasn’t.

Mom painted and kept busy with my husband and created normalcy when nothing felt normal. I smiled and pretended everything was normal when I felt completely out of control. Somehow smiling could diffuse any sadness and anxiety created by the circumstances and turn my mood around. Watching the home improvements during recovery were a great distraction for me. Truly a blessing.