Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday, where expressing a piece of gratitude remains the only focus in my writing at the beginning of every week, which for today is for something that I took for granted until I lost it, and now have thankfulness for it, as it starts to return, and that is my smell and taste.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever in my entire life expressed any form of gratitude over my senses of smell and taste, but definitely for my sight and hearing though. I just assumed that something like my smell and taste were two things that would always be there. Then I contracted COVID. And well, as most know by now, a great majority of people who come down with COVID also lose some or all of their smell and taste for varying lengths of time. Prior to getting sick with COVID, I had a relatively good sense of smell and taste. Things like hand soaps and shampoos were usually very strong smelling, even when I got a cold. And most foods I consumed I could taste even the slightest of spices and such. But, a day after I came down with COVID, I lost all of my ability to smell anything and the only thing I could taste was either sweetness or saltiness.
It really is true that when you lose something, you really begin to become grateful for what you had before you lost it. Maybe that’s why we all seem to be so unappreciative of those cloudy or rainy or snowy days that go on and on, that is until those crystal clear blue sunny skies return where they then seem all the more amazing. If we didn’t have those long periods of weather we didn’t want, would we ever appreciate the weather we did want? Maybe that’s why we occasionally need to lose things to find more gratitude in our lives. Well I can definitely say that entirely losing my sense of smell and taste brought an incredible amount of appreciation for two things I never have thought about much and just took for granted.
Nevertheless, as my smell and taste has slowly begun to recover, catching occasional whiffs of my orange-vanilla body soap or tasting the sharp tanginess of some cheddar in my salad has been absolutely something to celebrate and be grateful for. As these two senses return and fluctuate in their efficacy, I am doing my best now to express my appreciation to God and offer gratitude for them.
Out of all this, I think the biggest lesson I learned and the most gratitude I have is for the simple fact of how important it is to remain grateful for even the smallest of things we might not ever think about in our lives, including all the parts of our working bodies. So, yes, I’m thankful today and dedicate this Grateful Heart Monday for my fingers and toes being able to still function, for having all my limbs still, for all my organs continuing to work, for bodily waste happening as it’s meant to, for all that my body still does to keep me up and running, which of course includes now two senses, my smell and taste, that are two things that I will never take for granted again.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
