For as long as I can recall, I have drooled. That’s right. Add that to the list of “sexy shit Ashli does.” I have drooled, out of my mouth, onto the pillow case, as I slept. Definitely since I was at least 11 and started sleeping with headgear. Or it could have been before that when I sucked my thumb every night. Yes. I sucked my thumb until I was 11. I don’t even know how I made it out of elementary school sleepover years without being completely eviscerated {probs because my girl squad I was surrounded by were totes Boss}. But yes. The drooling has pretty much been a constant as long as I can recall. And the only dude I’ve ever shared sheets with has been Mr. Brehm, so I just figured it was normal for my husband to wake up with a puddle of spit on his shoulder.
Because don’t we just kinda think whatever we do is normal? I think we kinda get used to whatever it is is part of our world, right?
But guess what?! Last night, I breathed through my nose. Say what?! Did you know that you can actually totally sustain your breathing through your nose?! Say what?! I know. Revolutionary.
After years of compounded sinus issues, I never knew it wasn’t normal. Apparently you don’t all drool at night?! Good job, cool you. You get an award for not having awkward sleepovers.
So, even though I am not completely without the drippy faucet today and I have some stitches up my nose, it would appear that some part of the sinus procedure is already working. And again, while I know some people swear that their sinus issues reappear after they have surgeries, there was really no other solution for preventing my droopy eyeball issue hat eventually would have caused double vision and structural sinus damage… so, it had to be done, friends. I mean, in order to prevent the droopy ball at minimum. Thank you, Dr. Barnes {Nebraska Med, I know… I know…} for making me not have crusty drool on my face for the first time in years. You’re apparently some kind of miracle worker!
Today, I still have a little discomfort in my nose and sinuses and last night I was 100% tuckered out from the anesthesia from the day before but it would seem that whatever my root issue was is probably in the works for healing up.
Life feels pretty normal, guys. Pretty crazy normal. How is that even possible? How is it even possible that the same girl that went through Chemo last year and sat here, bald as a babe, is sitting here today, feeling pretty normal — and no longer drooling?! It’s a crazy reality. And some days, I feel a little guilty that I get to return to this normal. Which is the thing that will make me always share goodness. By the grace of God, we go through storms, we go through hard, we go through the places where we want to be in control and can’t see through the fog. Where we question. Where we feel lost.
And then. Here we are. Breathing through our noses. Like it was always that way. Like we never did anything else.
So thankful this morning for drippy noses. For the reality of modern medicine. For all the ways that grace is provided… even if just by the absence of a puddle of drool. Because blessings come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and forms. We sometimes just forget to look for them.
What is your absence of drool today? What if that little thing that is a blessing today that could go completely unnoticed? Maybe it’s just crazy normal… and THAT… that might be just the blessing you never knew you wanted.
