WHAT IF....

just one or all of the 5 senses you were born with were suddenly taken away from you? Say, you suddenly couldn't feel the embrace of the love of your life or touch, caress them much like you had before. How about not being able to hear your favorite songs, the ones you often sing along to, even though you remember what they sound like...It's the holidays, so what if all of a sudden on Christmas you chew and swallow mama's honey ham, yams, mac & cheese, and famous collard greens but you could no longer taste the flavors you grew to love as a youngin' and expect to indulge in during the holidays? Once more what if you couldn't smell when that fine specimen of a man walked through, wearing Polo's Blue cologne (one of my faves), or look in the mirror and see yourself age (something we all take for granted)?????

We take life's little things for granted, things like the 5 senses. I thought I'd see what you all thought of this because two years ago, I was confronted with these questions. What would I do if it happened to me? How would I cope? How would life change?

You can't miss what you haven't had, but to be born with your senses and become acustomed to treading through life with them and have them taken has to be a scary ordeal....at least I imagine it could be, I could be wrong.

In 2007, I had an earache that I assumed would just go away partly because of my ignorance to ear aches and reluctance to think it was anything of any significance wrong with my ear. However, as the days went by, the pain got worse and worse and after about a week the whole right side of my head began to ache with intensity, and my hearing was almost non-existent on that side. I would talk louder than needed because I couldn't hear myself the way I was used too...It'd effect me when I turned my head, talked, ate, slept or attempted, pretty much whatever I tried to do!! So, with my parents out of state I said "i'm not going to the hospital, imma ask the pharmacy what to do." I did that and THANK GOD there was a nurse there who looked @ my ear and directed me to go straight to the Emergency room. I went, and then the doctor who saw me told me I had a severe case of swimmers ear and that my ear had started closing as a result of being swollen. He gave me an antibiotic and sent me on my way. IT WAS A SCARY SITUATION!!!!

I was thankful it was just an ear infection that could be fixed with antibiotic BUT up until that point I was terrified that something else was going on and I was slowly losing my hearing...remember, I couldn't hear anything on that side. I now make sure to be thankful for EVERYTHING even just waking up in the morning and the abilities to taste, hear, smell, touch and see.

Really though, if you thought or knew you were losing one of your 5 senses, how would react, cope, move on????