You're so vein

Many new things appear in your life once you have a bit of time.

Take your legs for example.

It's possible I haven't spent anytime seriously looking at my legs, and most definitely not for about the last 20 years or so. My legs are quite serviceable and I'm fond of them. We climb mountains and stairs together and we race around on projects and errands and to see people. I guess I have taken them for granted.

Sometimes in my darker moments of self-loathing, I do look at other women's legs. I am amazed at how smooth they look, smooth and soft. It's obvious we are having different leg experiences and theirs most likely involves time and attention.

I have several friends now who have had vein-removal done on their legs. This is called vein stripping or spider vein removal. My friends tell me they have 'tons' of little spider veins but somehow I've never noticed these veins before.  Because I don't really have time with my legs, like that kind of time, I have wondered if this had happened to me somehow and I just didn't know it or no one told me.

There are many areas of my life that I am reclaiming, like the reality that I can take longer showers and not think about anything in the shower at all. This is a good leg-study time. So recently, with all that time, I thought, "Let's look at those legs and consider our options."

So I thought about my vein-y friends and gave my legs a once over. It appears that even with considerable neglect and non-attention, I have almost no obvious veins to worry about. This is a miracle! My legs are dry, bumpy and oddly colored but I guess vein stripping at least is still not in my immediate future.

My current theory on veins is that my legs are too busy dealing with massive hair growth everywhere on my legs to worry about veins. Why add more stress to this poor women, my legs are thinking, when she already has to spend all this time shaving?

I bought an electric razor recently to deal w/ the hair that is potentially hiding the veins. I bought it and it sat on the counter for two weeks in it's impenetrable plastic covering. I worked up the time to pry it open without slicing my hand. That took some effort so I waited a few more days, then figured out how to charge it. Now it's charging.

The luxuries that are abounding in my life right now include paying attention to my legs and buying an electric razor that is exactly where I left it.  I'm not sure there are many signs that shout more obviously, "There are only two people living in this house and they are both over 40."

That's potentially all I can think of to talk on regarding legs.

Good night.