June 30, 2010

Scars make good stories

All hail the scar. For without it, the skin would be too perfect and the adventures missed too many.

Even if they’re the kind of scars that you pay someone else to create for you.

There’s that one story that you hated telling, about how you were nineteen. And drunk. And too impatient to wait for proper healing.

Then there’s the same story that you decide to rewrite thirteen years later…

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And the most recent story is one involving orthostatic hypotension, which is a fancy way of describing what happens when someone with low blood pressure stands up too quickly and blacks out. Good times. You can see that I’m now proudly letting that story speak for itself. On my chin.

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Stories etched on our bodies, scars remind us of who we are and all we’ve been through while providing the kind of memories that only permanent physical experiences can.

As Henry Rollins puts it…

Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on.

  • Holly Parrott
    LOOK!  I'm reading your blog!  I didn't take a break from CAD yesterday, but i'm back in the lab for more fun today AND decided to take a tall tara break.  it was great seeing you and eli yesterday - give adam a hug from me.  smiles, holly gayle
  • Holly Parrott
    It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars.  ~  Garrison Keillor
  • Nice quote. I've got scars all over my body. No wonder I'm freaking Super Woman. ;)
  • Oh Tracey...that's just *ONE* of the reasons that you're Super Woman...
  • Thepedalhouse
    I just got a new scar myself. A tatoo with orbes of awesomeness....not bubbles. Bubbles would challenge my masculine identity, and you know that I don't want to do that...so Orbs....orbs of awesomeness. Seriously. Orbs.
  • Can't wait to see the orbs for myself.

    (Additionally, for the record, Bubbles the Chimp was extremely masculine. The more you know...)
  • There is truth in scars, a truth you really cannot turn from. A mother of 3 girls, I have a caterpillar-sized scar on my left knee from falling down drunk in a river bed at 16 (1st time's a charm, sigh). I have a divot in my right foot from a car accident in Spain, a line on my right calf from a summer as scenic carpenter in Santa Maria. Wouldn't change a single one and am grateful for how they tie me, regardless of sentiment, to the me that I was. And am. Beautiful post.
  • Thanks for sharing your stories Amanda. I'm of the opinion that scars represent a life fully lived, a life full of trying things and perhaps, as well, a life full of wounds. But with each new scar I get, I believe that I gain new wisdom, and like you, love that I can recount where and when I got each one.

    Looking forward to meeting you at BlogHer!
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