Splinter Group

One of the tasks I mentioned in "Singing for My Supper" (6/2/08) was pulling weeds in my mom's yard. Some of them were from last year, so they were dry and brittle. I got two splinters in my left palm. (One of them is still there.)

The obvious one is 1/4" long and is just under the surface of the skin. I can see it, but it's not sticking out at either end to remove with tweezers. I figured that was the one hurting me but that I'd have to live with the minor pain until the skin above it wore away.

So, I took the tweezers to the other one, which appeared to be just a little thing at the surface of my palm. I pulled, and out came a splinter that was 1/2" long! It had been driven straight down into my palm.

Bonus: once I stopped marvelling at the length of the splinter and how deep into my hand it had gone, I realized that the pain had gone away. The one that had looked innocent was actually the bigger problem. (No, that's not an analogy for my life.)