Muscles, Bones and Tissue

It was a sunny day.  The first real spring day in Denver.  It was also the celebration of my 10th wedding anniversary and my husband and I decided to take an adventure.  We went to see the Body Worlds exhibit at the Denver Museum of Natural History.

I was a little nervous and excited at the same time.  In my youth, when I had dreams of being a physician, I visited cadaver labs.  No need to go into details here, but lets just say it's an experience one never forgets.  And the smell, oh.  Enough said.

But we had heard excellent reviews about Body Worlds.  Words like "brilliant, unforgettable, educational".  So we bought our tickets and went to to see the bodies.

Upon arriving, I thought I smelled formaldehyde, but I realized it was my mind playing tricks on me.  I guess I was expecting to smell it.  I was actually glad there was no odor, no scent of any kind.

We had to show our tickets to two different groups of volunteers, before we gained admission to the exhibit.  There were signs everywhere telling us there were no bathrooms inside the exhibit, and once you entered you had to go through the entire exhibit to exit.  Ok, we were pretty psyched by now and and the thrill of what we were going to see was palpable.

As soon as we entered the exhibit hall our ears heard the sound of a deep heartbeat and it seemed we in a room of deep red.   Thats the only way I can describe it.  And then we saw our first body.

Muscles exposed, tendons, joints, bones.  Its all there for the naked eye to see.  Bodies in all different poses.  Parts of bodies, pieces of bodies.  Healthy parts, diseased parts.  Awe inspiring, jaw dropping, "and what is that?" bodies.

Most of the bodies were male.  When I saw my first woman I got a little emotional.  Oh my gosh, thats what we look like inside.  My awareness, love and respect for my body has changed tremendously.  We are a creation of brilliance.  We are a mind blowing creation and I shuddered at how some people have so little respect for our humanity.

I hope more people will go to the see the exhibit.  My husband and I both feel it embodies the word "education'.

We may go back again before the exhibit closes or we may not.  Either way we are better people, better humans for having had the experience and we hope others will too.

Here's a link to the exhibit in case you're interested:

http://exhibitions.dmns.org/

End Trans 03/31/10