I’m feeling like the weather today: gray and rainy, not much air moving…I was grateful when my doctor told me last Friday that what she found was not serious, just “a little virus” that would, unfortunately, probably hang on for awhile. My scratchy throat is gone and now distress is virtually “all in my head” but it amazes me how debilitating such a little thing can be. I think of my good friend and my sister-in-law, both suffering from pneumonia this month, and of all the people who are chronically ill, who daily have to struggle not to give in to the lassitude that has been my constant companion now for almost a week. I remember in my early days of teaching school when, during a class observation by the principal (my first), my eyes were running so fiercely from a head cold that I could hardly see and my fear was that Father Owens would think I was nervous. There was no luxury of staying home then; work was work, after all.
Today I am grateful for the privilege of rest, the ability to postpone appointments for the benefit of my health (and probably the health of others I could infect!), and the knowledge that my body will heal itself in the near future. All I need to do is cooperate. This hiatus is a good lesson in surrender for me and, for probably the first time in my life, I do not feel a need to resist! I guess I’ll go for my second cup of coffee now, and then…maybe a nap…
