So do you see the glass half empty most of the time or half full ?
As a child I once went routing around in one of the old suitcases typically used to hold all the OLD (some people never through anything away) duvets.
I was really a toddler and so was visually not able to distinguish the difference between a moth ball and mint imperial. Well that was until I put it in my mouth and began chewing on it.
Moth balls contained a high level of a chemical derived from Tar known as naphthalene. In more recent years it has now been banned in certain states / counties for this use due to its toxicity.
I can’t remember the taste but it must have been pretty bad, my mum was alerted to this when she heard me crying and came to investigate. The seriousness of ingesting naphthalene must have been known as I was rushed to hospital. (that or maybe the howling I must have been doing)
The emergency process involved inserting a tube down my throat and pumping my stomach. I was also kept in hospital for the next few days as I am told there was blood in my urine.
I have no recollection of this time, but I seem to remember that I did have vague memories of it may be about 15 years ago and as time passes you being to wonder how much if it is memory and how much is imagination filling in the gaps.
Over the years I have been told this story by my mum, dad, brother, my aunt, all who were present and had a slight different perspective on the events.
My mum told me that while I was in hospital my brother (older) refused to go home and spent his time in the hospital with me. He was probably on a guilt trip as I’m also told that rode his push bike over my hand a day earlier. (accident I'm sure :-))
One thing is consistent from all the perspectives including the doctor at the time and that is that I’m lucky to be alive.
Naphthalene is corrosive and poisonous if ingested can potentially burn the passage and damage organs, for a toddler the prognosis would be worse.
I sometimes think about this – stress, work, friends, life it has a way of making us always reflect on how the glass is half empty, how other people have either done better than us or have had a good hand dealt to them.
Thinking about the fact that I very much was not even going to be here, or may well have been living with a lifelong disability due to say kidney failure grounds me again.
It makes you look at what it could have been like, this kind of grounding is like taking a step back looking at yourself in somewhat of a third person perspective. Looking at what you do have as opposed to what u don't.
It makes you realise that the glass is not necessarily half empty and makes you grateful for the amount that’s in the glass regardless.
