When your innards see the light of day

link Grant McGee

Have you wondered what your insides look like?

Our innards have always fascinated me. It may have started when my mom told the tale of having surgery while she was awake. It was long ago when she was a college student and had appendicitis. The surgeons cut out her appendix and held it up for her to see.

Not too long ago I was chatting up with the folks at a local store when one of the sales clerks mentioned she had recently had gall bladder surgery.

“Did you keep your gall bladder?” I asked. “You know, put it in a jar, display it on the mantle.

“I didn’t keep it but I saw it,” she said. “I asked and they showed it to me.”

“Cool,” I said. I admired her curiosity.

Of course not everyone is excited about seeing their innards.

Years ago I hung around with someone who had to have a benign tumor removed. I picked her up after the procedure.

“Where is it?” I asked when she got in the car.

“What?” she said.

“Your tumor,” I said. “Didn’t you save it?”

“Gross!” she said. “That’s just gross. I don’t want to talk about it.”

She didn’t share my fascination with such things.

I had a tooth removed in Mexico a few years ago. The folks there gladly handed it over as a souvenir. It was one of those under the gum wisdom teeth. It was so decayed I was ashamed to have it in my mouth.

Crossing back into the United States the Border Patrol guy barked, “SIR, WHAT WAS THE NATURE OF YOUR BUSINESS IN MEXICO?”

“I had a tooth pulled, wanna see it?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said, dropping his bulldog attitude.

I pulled a wad of gauze from my shirt pocket and proudly displayed my tooth.

“Wow,” said the Border Patrol guy.

It’s always a good day if you can impress anyone with an old body part.

Grant McGee is a long-time broadcaster and former truck driver who rides bicycles and likes to talk about his many adventures on the road of life. Contact him at: [email protected].