As I shared last week, it’s been a difficult two yrs and the last two or three weeks have been exceedingly so.  It’s hard to handle life’s detours, hills and valleys by themselves (even one at a time), but when combined and topped off with chronic illness and an injury that doesn’t heal, you tend to feel like a truck ran you over, backed up and did it again and then stomped on you for good measure.

I remember an old I Love Lucy show where Fred (I think it was him) suggested that Lucy buy a new hat.  I don’t wear hats.  My head is toddler sized so, if I did buy a hat, it would cover my entire head or I would look like I was 4.  And I’m not really a hat fan, but I found something that did help make me feel better.

I hurt my shoulder about three or four months ago and the pain has been getting worse.  My range of motion has decreased significantly and I am unable to raise my arm or put it behind my back.  Unfortunately, it’s my right arm and I’m right handed.  In fact, I can’t use my left hand much either as that’s the one that I broke in the car accident.  Aside from that, I have arthritis in both hands and they ache now.  I was thinking one morning after a shower while trying to style my hair, I’ve washed my hands but I can’t do a thing with them. LOL

Thinking that I would be in extreme pain trying to lift my hands above my head to dye my hair, I let myself go gray for much longer than was aesthetically pleasing and evidenced by the fact that I was beginning to scare small children.  😀   After several months, it was now three different colors: red at the bottom, dark mousy brown at the top filled with ever increasing highlights of gray.  Since I couldn’t style my hair due to my injury, I’d been putting it up every day exposing my aged crown of glory.

So the other day, I just had to tackle that monster.  It was surprisingly easier than I thought.  Since I do it in the sink, I was able to reach my head without putting my right arm up too much.  After a little calculus coordination, a bunch of dye and a half an hour, I was done!  Not only is my hair one color, not gray, and softer, but the color was so pretty.  I had inadvertently tried a new version of the dye and color I usually use. Bought it without really looking at it at the grocery store because I was in a hurry to get done as I was tired and in pain.  With careful abandon, I styled my hair and, to my utter shock, it stayed soft and almost as straight even during the humidity and rain that day.

We are still unpacking the house so for the last two weeks I was unable to find most of my summer clothes.  Been wearing the same few shirts, but the other day I found the box with them all so I was able to wear something different.  Found my shoes too so I could put on something besides my black flip flops I’d been wearing for the last few weeks.

It’s amazing how much better you feel when you don’t look like an  old homeless woman!  It’s the little wins that can mean a lot when so much of life is a struggle.  Do you have a story like that?  Please share.