Bleeding Shins

January 15, 2015

As I was showering today I decided that the time had come. Time to enlist the help of the wonderful invention, the razor! I am not one who shaves my legs daily, nor one who chooses to avoid the dreaded task for the entire duration of the winter, rather I fall somewhere in the middle. Since today is my birthday I decided that I would indulge in a longer shower than usual-hoping all the littles would comply with this-and shave my legs! Now, to start off, I have been shaving for many, many years now. You would think that I had perfected the ability to do so without a nick or a mishap. Well, unfortunately for me I had a minor mishap. How it happened I am not quite sure, but it did happen. I felt the sting that everyone knows only comes when you have cute yourself shaving! Why does it have to hurt so much? Such a small little cut, and yet it inflicts it's fair share of discomfort. Immediately as I saw the blood coming from the self-inflicted wound my mind brought me back to several years earlier.

It was 6th grade at Ontario Middle School. I had PE that day. I was 12 years old and had only been shaving my legs about 1 year. Since I had PE that day, of course I had to have freshly shaved legs. Boy, have my priorities shifted since then...I can freely admit that I will wear items of clothing that my legs will be seen and not have freshly shaved legs! I guess that takes time to be able to do! Back to the story at hand. I had PE, with the most awful PE teacher there was...Ms. Goettche. Not sure how to spell her name, but I was not a fan of her. She made us run and run and run some more! I was quickly showering and shaving when suddenly I felt that sting, that unmistakable sting of a cut. I looked down at my right shin and blood was pouring down. Now even though I was fairly new to this whole shaving thing I knew that the amount of blood was a bad sign. This was not your typical shaving nick. Great! I proceeded to the left leg, quickly once again. You only have so much time to prepare for school in the morning. Suddenly, I felt that all too familiar sting once again. To my dismay, I had done it again on the left shin. Now what was I supposed to do? Razors cuts seem to bleed and bleed and bleed...again why is that? I got out of the shower, put pressure on each leg for as long as I could and then scrounged up some band aids for my poor shins. I was very concerned about what I was going to do about PE. You just can't have band aids on your shins in 6th grade when you are trying so hard to be cool. Side note- Middle School is no fun! Longer socks were in style when I was in 6th grade, which I was glad about, that would at least cover up the self inflicted damage I had done.

I made it to school. I don't recall what time I had PE during the day, but I am thinking it was in the morning sometime. I "dressed down" meaning I put on my school issued shirt and shorts. I removed the band-aids from my shins and went on my way. As we proceeded through whatever torture our teacher found fun for the day I noticed that my shins were beginning to bleed. Again, why do razor cuts bleed so badly? To make a long story a bit shorter, by the time PE was over my socks were soaked with blood...remember they went up to mid-calf area. Anyhow, it was horrifying. I don't recall anyone commenting on my little mishap. Maybe they did and I blocked it out. It was rather embarrassing and from that day forward I have been extremely careful to not E-V-E-R have to relive quite a shaving problem again. Well, I am sad to report that today, the day that I turn 35 years old I have been privileged to re-live that experience on a small scale. Today I nicked myself shaving. No band aids were required. No OMS PE class to go to. No one to maybe say anything about the whole thing. Today I am ok admitting to the whole world that I cut myself shaving. It happens, who hasn't done it. But way back when, when I was a nerdy middle schooler, I was sure it would be the cause of my demise to popularity!

How wonderful it is to grow up and go through all kinds of interesting experiences. Some are small. Some are big. Some seem small only in hindsight. I guarantee the shaving mishap of 6th grade was an EXTREMELY LARGE experience when it happened. I am grateful to be celebrating my birthday today. As my dad's text said today..."Not 30, not 40, just a tweener!" I am right smack dab in the middle of my 30's and 40's! I am happy to be getting older. I look back over the years and have grown and learned so many things. I am far happier and much more content at 35 than I ever was in my teens. I am married to the love of my life...whom I met when I was 13! I think about that and it seems crazy, but it is true. I love my husband so much. We have had many wonderful experiences together and I know we have many more ahead of us. I am privileged to have 4 wild and crazy kids who are demanding, loud, loving, obnoxious, kind, silly, and MINE! I don't have a perfect life. I have tons of challenges, trials, and hard days. But it is my life and it is perfect for me!