A Crafter's Worst Nightmare (but not as bad as it could have been)

Last night I was roasting some potatoes at 400 degrees.  I opened the oven to add a pan of fish to bake during the last 15 minutes of the timer, when a ball of steam heat came out and burned my right hand.  I didn't jerk my hand back from the heat fast enough because I was afraid of dropping a whole pan of deliciously marinated pollock, so it was pretty bad.

Not As Bad As It Looked Last Night

As I was running cold water over my whole hand, trying not to cry from the pain, I began to freak out a little.  I really really need my right hand.  I play guitar, I play piano, I type all day at work, I make jewelry, I scrapbook (sometimes), and I decoupage guitars and other strange things.  As it was throbbing and swelling, I was unable to bend my fingers and all I could think about was how I just received a bunch of great pendant blanks and I wouldn't be able to work on them.

Randy is the bomb, though - he kept a cool head while I devolved into drama queen territory.  He ran to CVS and hooked me up with gauze and burn cream and ice packs and dressed my hand like a combat medic.  Thanks to him, my blisters are minimal and as of this morning, I can bend my fingers.  DISASTER AVERTED.

This just brought home to me how important it is to me to be able to have a creative outlet, and I realized too that it isn't exactly the finished product that does it for me.  Sure, I might have a glimmer of accomplishment, but for me, the true joy is in the process.  The actual "making" of whatever it is I am making.  I am known to lose myself up in my studio for hours and not notice how late it's getting.  I have to tell people to come get me if I'm not downstairs by a certain time or else I could easily be up there all night.

What was driving me crazy was the thought of losing my clearest path to sanity.

I should be back up in the studio and working/playing again in a few days, and until then, I am going to take very good care of my hand.