This past Sunday, my WorkingMomLifeline.com partner-in-crime Deb and I enjoyed a lovely day aboard the Celebrity Solstice cruise ship (a great perk of living in South Florida — you can easily drive to the port, park and hop aboard the ship).

The Coral Springs, Florida, chapter of the American BusinessWomen’s Association  (ABWA) graciously invited us to address the 70 members and guests in a keynote speech entitled: What Every Business Woman Must Know Before Starting A New Business (Or, All The Lessons We Learned The Hard Way & Hope You Avoid…At All Costs)

(By the way, we will add a few pics and some video this week so you can see us in action.)

In my humble opinion, we gave a great overview on the myths and realities of starting a business. The setting for the event — which was the grand ship itself (we didn’t actually sail — the lunch-time even took place while the past week’s cruisers were debarking and the next week’s cruisers were embarking) — was stunning. I have been on a bunch of cruise ships and this one was, by far, the most striking and high-end in terms of its decor and overall feel.

But the day’s most enduring memory was private, painful and kind of embarrassing all in one.

Here’s what happened:  While we were waiting to embark, we waited for about half an hour in a kind of holding area at the port. I took a moment to visit the restroom. As I was leaving the stall, the silver metal door lock was kind of stuck or tight so I had to slide it over with more force than usual.

As my whole hand, led by my thumb, moved over, my thumb somehow slid along the inside of the lock and the very-tippy-top of the thumb just sliced off.

Yuck. 

I just stood there in shock for a moment as the now-stark-white top of my thumb blanched and then starting bleeding — a lot! I won’t go into any more detail (except to remind you that the very place where my thumb was sliced and my insides were exposed bare to the world is Ground Zero for the bacteria population of the public restrooms of our world!). Gross.

The good news is I’m going to live. I’m all bandaged up and my right thumb is just not a part of its usual 10-member group of fingers.

And you know what I have learned?  The thumb is a really important finger! Especially the thumb on your dominant (in my case, right) hand. That little guy or gal is a real workhorse, and I didn’t realize it until mine was out of commission.

Typing, washing dishes, doing laundry and even getting dressed are tougher without this finger. And the worst for me, a total Crackberry addict? Blackberry-ing. VERY tough with one left thumb and a right index finger. 

So a big thank you and I’m sorry to my right thumb – I won’t take you for granted again!

Filed under: Allison Nazarian, WorkingMomLifeline.com in the news, humor for women