Thursday, May 8, 2008

Moments Marked In Scar Tissue


Today I was looking at a little scar on my thumb that I have had for about nine years now. It's been a part of me for so long that I don't ever notice it anymore. I'm not sure what got my mind going on the idea but I started thinking about all the little scars on my body and where I got them. Maybe they were not important times of my life but it's still a lifetime worth of stories that make me who I am.

When I was in high school I worked at an ice cream store where we used those little malt machines attached to the wall that spin really fast and make that whirring sound. I was good at my job and I was fast so I always had the mixers on high speed even if the ice cream was too hard. One day the cup slipped and I caught my hand in the mixer. I went home with a bloody towel covering the badly cut up hand (nobody wants to be served a blood sundae).All that is left is a quarter inch line on my thumb and pinky.

My knees still show a few little marks of the childhood days of bike riding down gravel hills and roller skating on pavement. I had skinned knees so often it's a wonder they ever healed. Somewhere during that time I recall celebrating the 4th of July in our backyard. My parents were letting me and my brother play with sparklers. Sparklers should be the safest of all fireworks but somehow I got a hot ember on my wrist that has scarred me for life. I've noticed that as I got bigger, so did that white circle.

On that same wrist I have a mark from my old roommate A. I used to pick on her a lot and we would get into playful slapping fights. I grew up with a brother so play fighting seems normal to me. She grew up with a sister so she didn't always play right and she would dig her long nails into my skin. I guess she got a good grip one of those days because I will always have a puffed up white crescent mark to remember the four years we lived together like siblings.

While I was inspecting my hands I noticed a little indentation on the inside of my left arm. It's a chicken pock mark from childhood that I have not thought about in a very long time. I used to have one on my eyelid as well so I grabbed the compact mirror on my desk and sure enough it's still there. It's funny how I can spend time every day applying eyeshadow and mascara but I never notice that indentation. I remember when I had the chicken pox I was allergic to the medication they gave me so on top of the pox I had hives. That sucked.

A few years ago I was having a little fling with an old friend and we ended up at the music museum he worked at in the middle of the night. Long story short I still have the fading marks of carpet burn on my spine.

Last but not least, the most recent scar was obtained some point this past year. I stabbed myself in the leg with a butcher knife. Right through my jeans and into my thigh. I was trying to cut something in a plastic container while it was on my lap. Yeah, I'm an idiot.

I wonder what will be next. How about you? Do you have any interesting scars to share?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Col. Mustard did it in the Music Museum with carpet!

~Jef

Jay said...

I have two long scars on my each side of my left forearm from when I broke it back in 8th grade. Both bones broke completely and they had to screw plates into the bones to keep them in place while they healed. It was all pretty gruesome. I wish I had pics of it.

Other than that I only have deep emotional scars. LOL ;-)

Dana said...

*giggle* Well, you saw some of my stories today *wink*

Anonymous said...

I have scars not to noticeable , except for my surgery scare towards the bottom of my stomach!! other than that they are really small and cannot see anything.

I agree with Jay.. My emotional scare is really really noticeable!!!

The Butcher knife? WOW!!!

Farmer*swife a/k/a Glass_Half_Full said...

OMG! I'd have to do a blog post for all of mine. The time I was a child and we were returning bottles to the convenience store...tripped on the curb, broke the bottles, gashed my thigh and my elbow.

(Mom told me not to pick it cuz it would scar. She was right.)

The stitches scar under my chin where I fell in the bathtup and ended up in a bath of bloody water.

The time I was drunk in the back of a friends pick up truck, tripped over the stuff in there (it was dark) and woke the next morning asking, "What happened to my hand??"

Oh yea....there are more...

Reb said...

Well, I have boring surgical scars. I do have one scar on the back of my left hand from closing a barbed wire gate, My hand slipped and one of the barbs hit the big vein that runs across the back of your hand. The vein decided to relocate and has been closer to my thumb now for years.
I used to have a hole in my knee where after falling in the rain, I had a small bit of gravel lodged in there for about a year. It took months for the hole to fill in, but the scar itself is long gone now.

Jo said...

We could've been the same kid! At any given time until I was 12, both knees had scabs. Strangely the only scars I have are from my adult years...my favorite is one stretchmark near my hip from being preggers.

Carpet burn rocks :)

Butcher's knives scare me to death! It's the only knife I won't keep in the house b/c I just know I'll end up lopping a fingertip off.

Doc said...

I actually have about a four inch scar just above my right knee that I received with a switchblade in a fight after a highschool football game. Hey it could have been worse I could have gotten shot!

Tink said...

I love discussing scars. Hoop and I spent a whole night playing show and tell with ours. I have a scar above my right eyebrow from where I lept off a couch at two and got my head punctured by the corner of a brass table. Then there was the time our alcoholic gym teacher in fourth grade told us to take off our shoes and run around the newly waxed floor in our socks. Yeah, I have a scar below my nose from where I slipped and went face first into a heater grill. That was real smart of him. He kept his job too!

gary rith said...

I don't think a guy would be using a butcher knife to cut something in his lap, but then again....

Anonymous said...

Hmm i have a scar from my fall in my military scool days... on my back.... but i does nt look ugly ..lol..it lookskinda cool...emotinal scars there are many..but i have the strength to overcome them !!! nice posts..i enjoyed reading !!

GMEyster said...

I love your blogs.

My most noticable scar is next to my right eye. I ran past my grandmother's greenhouse when I was a kid, and an open window caught my eye.

Anonymous said...

Followed you from Edge's blog.

I feel like Hooper from Jaws...

I have a couple surgery-type scars (softball related) Shattered left ankle from sliding into 2nd (safe) ACL replacement scar from blowing out right knee at home (safe)

But the "cool" ones are the ones from childhood:

I have a scar that runs right down the left side of nose from flipping over the handlebars of my bike when I was 7 (15 stitches), my brothers TORTURED me for weeks about that one.

The crescent moon shaped scar on my left knee where my my neighbor's dog chased me & I fell. I was maybe 9 or 10 at the time.
(Speaking of which, I just ran into that old neighbor on Sunday)

The small scar on my forehead from
leaping into my bed & smashing my head against the metal frame.

Aaaand finally, the small scar at the corner of my left eye from falling out of bed (top bunk) and hitting the corner of the dresser on the way down.

There are a few more from my days at Culinary school & everyday run of the mill accidents,