The Small Things

I awoke Tuesday morning with a painful stabbing in my left eye. Despite complaining and whining and wiping and rinsing and staring and crying, the stabbing remained. I attempted to ignore the nagging pain, knowing all too well that it was likely an infinitesimal speck lodged in my eyeball that was sure to eventually vacate said cornea, but alas the jabbing, scratching particle got the best of me.

It was at the crest of that hill on my commute to work that I admitted defeat. James came to my rescue as chauffeur and shuttled me to the nearest eye doctor. A few hours, some numbing eye drops, an everted eyelid, a Q-tip, and an itty bitty shard of clear sand later, balance and comfort was restored to my ocular world.

How maddening yet humbling it is to have one’s day thrown by such an insignificant, tiny thing. How eyeopening (har har) to be reminded of how I take comfortable eyesight for granted. And how trite yet monumental to refocus (killing it with the word play) on the value and import of The Small Things, in all elements of my life.

A cheesy albeit apt reminder to give the positive small things in my life the same energy and weight I gave that silly fleck of sand. How truly contented life could be during even the most mundane of moments. Easier said than done, but a worthy reminder nonetheless.