A Day of Listening, Show, and Tell

I had quite the “exciting” time at my mechanic’s garage this morning while he was getting my car inspection ready. I was sitting outside amongst a collection of assistant mechanics and some other customers waiting for their cars and naturally, a conversation emerged. One lady was talking about her successful triumph with brain surgery recently and offered to show ME- the only other woman present- how well her scars & stitches healed within newly grown hair. She was proud of this, understandably so, and although I was a little NOT enthusiastic about wading into the roots of her hair, I went with the flow.

I guess one of the mechanics wasn’t one to let HER hold the floor with such a moving story and so he upped the ante recalling his VERY RECENT bout with some type of stomach cancer. He proceeded to lift up his shirt (??!!!???!) to show off proof of his Battle Scars TO ME which were still wrapped in some gauze (YUCKY). Next, he lifted up his sweat pants to his THIGH to show me where they took the skin graft to apply to his stomach wound (BARF). Although there were 5 other people there, inexplicably, I was deemed the person to INSPECT all surgical wounds/scars/injuries (WHY ME DEAR GOD?!). Not to be outdone, a THIRD man/customer talks about his horrific surgery near the base of his spine and presents the evidence to who else but ME pulling up shirt and adjusting belt to show scars better (NO PLEASE DON’T).

I am honored that these people felt that either my spirit or face conveyed such a sympathetic nature that only I could understand and validate their bravery and perseverance in the face of such personal trauma to their bodies (NOPE) but inside I was struggling hard to contain feelings of AWKWARDNESS, MORTIFICATION, & BARF (Sorry but not so sorry). I figured that this was an excellent opportunity for me to make a hefty deposit into the Karma Bank of the Universe for all the times that I have been grossly insensitive to other people’s woes or just for my excessive snarkiness. Bottomline, I listened, I inspected, I sympathized, and I guess I became a humane sounding board for a couple of minutes when normally I would have pulled out my cell and ignored THE LOT OF THEM. Now that I have passed inspection with flying colors, I need to find a Kitty to kick- JUST KIDDING!!!