Head To Toe
Our bodies hold our stories
I can tell you my story starting at the top of my head. My head is covered in a mass of thick, coarse curly hair that came from my grandmother, Carmela. If you run your fingers over my skull on the right side, you will feel a pronounced dent where a piece was removed to gain access to my brain during an operation in 1999 that saved my life. My ears are small and close to my head like my father’s.
My eyes are all of the colors you see in both my mother’s and my father’s eyes. My mother has flecks of green, blue and gold depending on the light. My father’s eyes are brown, and mine are a mixture of all of those colors. My nose might tell you I am Jewish or Italian, and both would be correct.
My shoulders are lopsided. My left arm hangs out of my shoulder joint which has atrophied over 20 years of paralysis from the stroke. My right shoulder looks strong and developed because it has become my favorite. There is a large scar on it from a surgery to repair it when I broke it in 2009. My arms did 10 pullups with my hands in either an over or under grip when I was a young, strong gymnast in my youth. They moved gracefully when I was a dancer. Now I have trouble controlling what my left arm is doing.
My upper back houses a cinder block of tension behind my left shoulder from 20 years of abnormal, hyperactive muscle tension from the stroke. This means I am in chronic pain all the time. My lower back is smooth, sexy and curvy. I seem to have a great “ass”.
My uterus and lady parts produced two miraculous human beings. My uterus was removed in 2009, my ovaries in 2017.
One of my legs is quite strong. My other leg is weak and depends on the right one to do all of the heavy lifting.
I have a left foot that remains paralyzed from the stroke 20 years ago. This means I can’t wear heels or raise myself up on my tippy toes. I use an electronic stimulator to lift my foot when I walk.
For all of the damage my body has sustained, I am grateful for its ability to take me places, ride horses, and enjoy physical love.
What’s your body’s story??
Thank you for reading :)
© 2019 Victoria Ponte
