Tonight, while unwinding after a long and hectic day, I sat on the couch surfing around the internet, a common evening activity for me. I ended up on the MSN homepage after logging out of my email account. I saw an ad for an article updating the status of the woman who was attacked by a chimp in 2009. I remembered her story and decided to read the article. The article turned out to be a video of an interview with the woman, whose name is Charla. She is completely blind, but has been fitted with prosthetic eyes, and has recently been given a face transplant. I didn't know such a thing was possible! She had lost her face during the attack, and has been living without one since then, forcing her to wear a veil when she goes in public so as to not frighten people who see her. I can't imagine that kind of emotional pain and torture. She also lost her hands in the attack. During the face transplant, they also conducted a hand transplant to give her hands, but the new hands lost circulation and had to be removed just days after the surgery. It was related in the video that shortly after her surgery, she was walking down the street and a little girl came up to her and said "hello". She related that it was then that she realized that she wasn't scaring people anymore with her face. She said that there aren't enough words for her to express her gratitude for the family of the face donor. Due to her blindness, she stated that she has no concept of her face, and can't feel certain parts of it even when touched due to nerve damage. But she stated that since her face transplant, people have told her that she was beautiful, and that she'd never been told that before. Her doctors say that she won't resemble the woman whose face she received, and that the skin of the face will conform to her bone structure to create a totally new face.
By the end of the video, I was fighting back tears. It seems extremely appropriate that I would see this video during the week of Thanksgiving. More often than I would like, I find myself stressing out about small things, wishing I had more of one certain thing or another, or nit-picking at small things that are absolutely insignificant in the bigger picture. While I make sure that I never take my life or my blessings for granted, I have my moments of short-sightedness. This video was an extremely effective reminder of just how blessed my life truly is. Aside from the physical things I have in my life, I can honestly say that my life is very, very full of love. Not a day goes by that I do not feel loved, appreciated or supported. How many others can say that? How many others can say that they feel happy every single day? I won't pretend that I feel happy all day every day, but I definitely feel happy on a daily basis. More than any other thing in my life, I am thankful for the people in my life that make it as beautiful as it is... my amazing mom, my ever-supportive and loving dad, my awesome brother and grandparents, my truly sweet and loving future-family-in-law, my incredible friends, and of course, my too-wonderful-for-words fiance. I have more things to be thankful for on this coming day of thanks than I could begin to list... and that is absolutely something to be thankful for.
My advice for each of you this week: Count your blessings. Seriously. I know that sounds totally cliche, but do yourself a favor and do it. Take 10 quiet minutes to yourself and think about the things in your life that you are lucky to have or that make you happy. I guarantee, no amount of turkey, Black Friday savings or pie can come close to the head change it gives!! Trust me!! I know as well as anyone the kind of pressures, stresses and emotions that the holidays can bring, but lets all agree to try to keep things in perspective this year - I would be willing to bet that no matter what you're during these holidays, someone else out there would count you pretty damn lucky!! Let's try to remember that!! It's what really matters, after all.
Watch the above-mentioned, completely inspiring video HERE.
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