We just had a thermometer contest: whoever had the most normal temperature won, and I lost. Both Ken and I have what’s likely a wicked incarnation of the flu despite earnest flu shots and sincerest wishes not to be lying on beds or couches for hours while our half-dreams bleed Excel spreadsheets into family members long gone into recipes for cakes made of fruit and abstract equations. First I came down with it, spending the weekend and much of today horizontal, then Ken caught up with me because when it comes to true love, misery really does love company.
The kitchen counter is full of various over-the-counter de-mucus-ers, the knightly Tami-flu, and each of one our own bottles of Recharge, a great electolyte-inflused drink without all the sugar of Gatorade. My plan to fly to Vermont tomorrow flew away very as quickly as my fever so now I have a re-booked flight for Thursday. And we just watche
d one of the great films for any sick people (in addition to The Big Lebowski), Groundhog Day, taking special care to count all the days Bill Murray woke up again to Sonny and Cher (42 in the film although I researched how it would actually take over 8 years for him to be an expert at piano and ice-sculpting).
“Doesn’t it feel like you’re dying?” I asked Ken earlier. “Yes, that’s exactly how it feels,” he answered, leading us to ponder if, at the moment of death, we would remember this crazy strain of flu. Yet there’s also the living that goes on regardless, and little moments of gratitude in spite of headaches, body aches, sinus aches, sore throats, and crazy coughing tirades, like when we visited with friends via a phone conference in Columbia, MO. and Plainfield, VT. to compare notes about who’s got snow (one of us), who’s got the flu (three out of four of us), and whose crocus are blooming (three of us). Or when ate the incredible soup a friend brought over and re-affirmed the power of soup to change and save lives. We’ve found our fat cat trying to stuff himself into a small box hilarious as well as the new John Oliver “Last Week Tonight.” We’ve sprawled across our facing couches saying stupid things that made us laugh or fall asleep, and we’ve drunk tea.
When we’re hit by particularly uncomfortable and even painful illnesses, it’s easy to say what each of us have said: “how do I get through this?” But the answer, like the answer to any stretch of time, is that you just do, and since this is the deal, why not find between the squeezing and sleeping whatever specks of joy are all around?
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