Once in my martial arts class I got a black eye. My left eye was bruised and my nose was scraped up.
I examined myself in a mirror and decided whether or not I needed to go to urgent care.
Nope, I think I’m alright.
When I got home, I got a cold compress out of the freezer and put it over my eye.
With the compress over my eye, I got to experience what it would be like if I had lost my eye as I cooked dinner.
With my remaining good eye, I tried to read the small print on the back of a package of pasta—it was surprisingly difficult.
I filled a pot with water and noticed the challenges of figuring out when the water was deep enough as my depth perception was off.
I used to work with someone who only has the use of one eye, but had never really thought about what it would be like to actually only have one eye.
That night, I went to sleep grateful for my black eye. Grateful for an injury that would heal. Grateful for having the use of both my eyes.