Divinipotent About the Black & Blues

“Accidents will occur in the best-regulated families.”
~ Charles Dickens

Yesterday my upper lip was involved in a collision with my toddler-age granddaughter's hard little head. It wasn't much of a collision and the pint-sized headbanger is fine. Divinipotent Daily, however, is a different story. Bleeding and bruising come so easily to me that a minor dental procedure can turn into a scene from a slasher movie. 

“Sometimes accidents happen in life from which we have need of a little madness to extricate ourselves successfully.”
~ François de la Rochefoucauld

I would like to tell you that this morning I look like a duck-billed dinosaur — they've always seemed rather jaunty to me. The one above is a Brachylophosaurus canadensis named Leonardo who was discovered, mummified, in Montana in 2002. Leonardo has been on tour of late and the story of his stay at the Houston Museum of Natural Science is worth a look, since it includes a film about Leonardo's discovery.
 
“Mirrors should reflect a little before throwing back images.”
~ Jean Cocteau

But I digress. The truth is, I do not look like Leonardo. The swelling is confined to just one side of my upper lip, making me look more like a half-hearted Angelina Jolie wannabe. A dark bruise that could be mistaken it for dirt or, who knows, five o'clock shadow, is clearly visible.

"Lord knows, I never want to waste any more of my time in mirrors."
~ Lauren Hutton

The only recourse is to follow Aristotle's dictum — "The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances" — and turn this into a blog topic.

Lastly, a note to the great thinkers: a bruise is more than a metaphor.