You don't know what you've got till its gone

They've paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
Wonderful Joni Mitchell got it so right in her song.

I have just read an article in my paper by the journalist  Melanie Reid. She broke her neck in a riding accident in 2010 and is now tetraplegic.
Amazingly she has written  an article almost every week since she recovered consciousness - charting her experience.  Such a brave and wonderful woman, I have untold admiration for her.

In this week's article she mentions something about wanting to shout at those of us  with working bodies. She wants to tell us  - to use them - because we can - and because she can't-
- you don't know what you've got till its gone.

We take our bodies so much for granted. We moan about silly things like spots and cellulite and being too thin or too fat  - but we should be rejoicing every day that our bodies work.

I once broke my little toe. It was painful and I was quite amazed at how much it restricted movement and what I could do. I was just about to go on holiday and needed hands and feet fully functional to negotiate trains and boats and planes etc. It was a major nuisance and this was just one little toe far away at the other end of my body. I can remember thinking that in future - when it had healed -  I would spend more time appreciating my toes.
Of course - I haven't.

I am so lucky and am so grateful that my whole body is all there and more or less fully functional.
We all should be - every day and every night.
A healthy body is the most wonderful thing in the world to have
Every day it is that way is the most amazing, miraculous gift.
We should never moan about any part of our body
because
You don't know what you've got till its gone.
Thank-you Melanie - for reminding us