Certain Unalienable Forces

I have been reading Stiff, a book by Mary Roach, about cadavers.  Even as I say this I know that this sounds creepy, but the thing is that its a very good read, that is funny, and very sobering at the same time. What I keep getting out of it, is that life is fleeting, our bodies are constantly in a state of change. We are all rapidly moving towards death, and life is always temporary.  I think that if I were to die today, I would have lived a full life. I mean I have loved completely, I have lost completely, I have been thin, and fat. I have traveled, and I have been hardened by my lessons.  I have been a young girl, and an old woman. I have been given incredible gifts, and have surrendered much. Still, maybe it is naive to think that I have lived a full life.

  Roach talks a lot about how certain forces act on the body, such as time, oxygen, bacteria, and environmental forces. It is actually kind of amazing how malleable our physical selves are. We forget how fragile we are. I am fascinated by how my body changes, how it waxes and wanes. Fat turns to muscle, and muscle gives way to fat. My face was soft, and now the bones protrude out in interesting angles. What was once lean, is now soft, what was once just skin, now has substance.  It is a constant struggle to recognize all of these places I have been as being beautiful..... Yet you have to.