Some of you may know this already, but I have shoulder surgery scheduled for a couple weeks from now, on August 30. I dislocated my shoulder in a skateboarding accident about a month ago now. That sounds way cooler than what actually happened, but I'll stick with it.
Anyways, it's been kind of a rollercoaster of figuring out how to deal with an upcoming surgery. I'm SUPPOSED to immobilize my shoulder, but we all know that didn't happen :) I shot a wedding two days after the dislocation and have shot a few events since then. I have a portrait session coming up soon, so I don't really plan on slowing down. But in every other area, I have slowed it WAY down. I'm using one arm for 90% of the stuff I do. If I don't, I'll feel it later.
I wanted to share some ridiculous things I've learned since this whole thing happened. This is all for humor - no complaints here, I'm going to get fixed and that's a huge blessing! But some of this is pretty funny. So here we go. Top 10 things that are SUPER hard to do with one arm:
1. Tear toilet paper - I know, that's weird. But it is really hard to do. Elbows come in handy.
2. Unscrew lids/bottles/caps - obviously, but I never knew how much this happened until now! As I told a coworker, all things childproof have now also became Maria-proof.
3. Drive a manual - ALL we have are manuals. Thankfully we've been able to borrow an automatic for awhile. And speaking of...
4. Making ANY adjustments while driving - car too hot? too cold? music too loud? phone ringing? rain starting to come down? TOO BAD!
5. Put my hair in a ponytail - one of the things i break my arm out of the sling for. I'm also teaching my husband this skill. It's going...slowly...
6. Make my bed - ok, I could totally do this if I really wanted to. But it turns out that I really don't want to, and it's not worth the hassle. This feels amazing.
7. Put contacts in - I hate touching my eye. More than anything. So whenever I normally put them on, I have to pry it open and stick the contact in as quickly as possible before I blink. This does not happen without the prying hand.
8. Text/do anything on my phone - this one is terrible. I can WRITE better with my left hand than I can use my phone. I feel like I went back a couple thousand years to the caveman era with this one.
9. Tie my shoes - for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to do this. If you have tips, please pass them on!
10. Grocery shop with a basket - tried this one today. I must have looked super pathetic, because some guy looked at me and said, "Well that doesn't look fun."
All that to say, I hope you've had a good laugh, and I hope more than anything that you begin to appreciate your dominant hand/arm! It's invaluable to me...never again will I take it for granted!
Happy Sunday, y'all!
