The pain of writing about my finger

For years, I have wanted to publish a single comprehensive narrative that explained the whole story behind my finger (the one I don’t have anymore). Today I finally sat down to write it up, to be a permanent page on this site (similar to The Drillbit Story I have already posted). And do you know what? I find it to be incredibly stressful to write about.

I think the issue is that I am trying to be comprehensive and thorough and fair, but it is such an emotionally charged topic. Usually, when I tell the story to someone else, I get to scope and scale the telling to the listener. Military audiences need less context and get more, uh, color. Those oblivious to government processes or the state of American healthcare need a little more context. Sometimes I play for more pity, but usually my goal is humor. There are times when I am curt, just trying to get it done and move on… but that usually happens only when I’m not actually telling much of the story.

Anyway, today I sat down to do the definitive record… and kinda retraumatized myself. Trying to hit each detail and nuance and decide what exactly is relevant just forces me to revisit each aspect of the whole thing… and boy oh boy it turns out I’m not exactly neutral about it. If enough people push for details, I might prioritize it, but in the meantime I think I’m going to let it sit in Drafts…