I Want Your Body

It’s the age-old complaint. As a woman, it’s hard enough to live in a society full of standards no real woman can live up to…the ads, the movies, the pop stars. Images are everywhere that have been air-brushed and made-up until they’re better than perfect. A lot of women I know go through life spending far too much time comparing themselves to others and feeling badly about themselves.

But when you live with a disability that weakens your body and affects your physical form in a way that forces you to relinquish control and that makes that perfection that much more impossible to attain, it’s not the air-brusher to the stars that bugs me…

What I’d like you to remember is this:

1. Don’t criticize your muffin-top. My spine is crooked and full of rods and wires. I want your body.
2. When you get frustrated and say you can’t run one more mile on the treadmill…my legs won’t walk from room to room. I want your body.
3. When you say your arms are flabby…my arms won’t reach out to hug my daughter. I want your body.
4. Don’t pump your body full of smoke. I have to visit the pulmonologist next week so he can monitor my naturally weakened lungs. I want your body.
5. Don’t inject your arms with drugs and take for granted that you’ll return to reality. I fight to live in reality every day despite needing help to get out of bed. I want your body.

Be kind to your healthy body that carries you through the world. Try to be better, sure, but remember there are people who would move heaven and Earth for what you have so take care of it and be grateful.