The Calculation

I am grateful for muscles that work involuntarily. I'm in biology this year, and here I am studying for a quiz about the circulatory system.

I've known all along that hearts do a lot. But man. Cells, tissues, ventricles, valves, all flowing and moving together in absolute harmony to keep bodies living. Beat. By beat. By beat.

Feel your heart.

It's beating, isn't it? And you didn't even have to try. Because your body knows what to do, and your heart knows that its job is to keep you alive. Isn't that marvelous??

What if we did have to think about it? What if every beat was a conscious effort?

I feel like our lives would be so much simpler if we did. There wouldn't be time or energy to do much else but keep our hearts beating.

-Beat.
-Oh.
-Beat.
-School.
-Beat.
-Man. I wish school was over.
-Beat beat beat beat.
-Whoo.
-Beat.
-Almost forgot to beat my heart.
-Beat.

So I'm glad that that's not how things are. Not to say that I don't sometimes still worry about my heart beating. But I know that I can trust it to beat for as long and as hard as it's supposed to---and for that, I am very grateful.