Curation + Inspiration

Kate Winslet once wisely remarked that “There’s more to life than cheekbones.”

Don’t I know it!

Recently, I’ve become intimately familiar with one particular beauty among the other 205 bones in the human body: the scaphoid.

It’s one of 27 bones in the hand nestled between the thumb and the wrist and I unknowingly injured mine this past weekend.

I wish I had a good story to go along with the injury, but I don’t. It just happened. No big thing. It just felt like I jammed my thumb a bit while I was getting out of bed. And life goes on.

Until two days later when I noticed the hand swelling and started feeling pain.

In my right hand.

My dominant hand.

The hand I type with.

The hand with the thumb that hits the space bar between every word.

Aaargh!

Enter the doctor-prescribed wrist brace that has taken my right-hand out of commission.

It’s forced my left hand off the bench and into the game. Yes, the ol’ benchwarmer is being asked to jump in and save the day not only by typing but also by grasping, twisting, lifting and pinching, too.

And while it’s frustrating to see that she can’t do nearly as good a job as my Star Quarterback right hand can, it’s already very clear that this replacement player has the same ability to be an All-Star if she’s just given some time and the same amount of coaching, attention, and practice as her fellow teammate.

And isn’t it truly amazing how much quicker we adapt to change when we have no other choice?

We are definitely creatures of habit. For instance, try this:

Cross your arms in front of your chest.

Now switch’em so the other arm is on top.

How weird does that feel?!?

We all tend to cross our arms one way all the time and the other way just feels…unnatural.

But many books on creativity suggest the benefits in switching ordinary things like this up a bit.

They often recommend messing up your routine by using your less-dominant hand for activities like eating or brushing your teeth. And though I admit I tried it myself once or twice, I always got frustrated and never stuck with it for more than a minute or two.

Now, of course, I have no other choice.

After tomorrow’s MRI and next week’s doctor visit, I’ll know if surgery will give my left hand a spot in the starting line-up for the rest of the season. But I’m crossing my fingers — my left fingers! — that surgery won’t be necessary.

So, with bones on my mind, I present today’s VPODs. First, a vintage 1960s Louis Guisti skeleton fish modernist necklace which truly celebrates the beauty in bones.

And, for those of you who find skeletal bones a tad too macabre for your taste, a vintage chenille wrap sweater in a neutral bone shade that may be more your style.

They’re both fine finds for Vintage Crusaders!

Sweater available at Miso Vintage Supply. Necklace available at Orbiting Debris.

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