Kingston High senior: don't take life for granted

With a recent trip to the operating room, I have quickly come to realize how much in my short, almost 18 years of life, I have unintentionally taken for granted. Just a simple 70-minute surgery I had to undergo made me recognize a lifetime of unappreciated actions and gifts. Though many of these things reasonably could never be acknowledged on a day-to-day basis, certain drawbacks from this surgery are much more valued than they would have been in the past.

Shoulder surgery may be a simple procedure, but unfortunately the months following have already begun to show how tedious and annoying it is turning out to be. With my right arm now having been in a sling for about a month, I’m realizing how hard it is to do simple tasks with only my left arm to do them. It’s hard to do everything that I once didn’t think twice about; it’s hard to shower, put my hair up, do my make up, type on a computer, write and eat!

Nothing is made easy with this crutch I now have to rely on for a good chunk of time. I have begun to realize so much. The tiny issues aren’t really what have made an impact on me. The fact that I can’t play the sport I love for a long and drawn out seven months, now that’s the real burden and the reason I was able to realize how much I didn’t appreciate before surgery.

Having my only passion in life put on a halting hold for awhile has shown me certain mistakes I made unintentionally during my fast-pitch softball career. Every athlete thinks once in awhile, “Man, I wish practice would get over sooner” or just simply doesn’t work as hard as they could. I am so blessed that my injury has been repaired and it will even help my game. But what if I was seriously injured and instead of seven months without fast pitch, it was a lifetime without it? Knowing this now, I will never again take my sport for granted. I know now that I couldn’t handle a break like this again.

Simply put, it it has been painful. Watching practices on the bench for a month now, I so easily see this in my teammates and I wish so badly that they could just feel how I feel and see what I see. But, of course, it would be very hard able to make this clear without a significant experience like an injury.

Where my point ties into your life is how this might help you recognize certain things you have in your past or recently taken for granted. It could be anything you can think of, or anyone. Just take some time to stop and think … because you have no idea when it could be taken from you and remember, time cannot be reversed and actions cannot be taken back.

Hannah McCluskey is a member of the first graduating Class of 2008 at Kingston High School.

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