Cold
By John R. Greenwood
A winter ritual reaches out and grips you tight around the neck. It starts slowly with a scratchy swallow, sandpaper-rough. Your temples begin to throb with every pass of flickering light. Visions of a soft pillow and heavy quilt invade every thought. Your legs become noodle-like. Body aches work themselves deep into every available space. We know it’s coming yet we act like we should be excused this time around. Why me? I drank my juice! But it comes anyway and it knocks you down like a neighborhood bully. It looks down at you and sneers. You pull up the covers tight around your head. You lay pathetic, horizontal, a shivering mummy squirming from side to side on a safe familiar sofa. You turn off the world for as long as you can. No amount of sympathy seems enough. The drone of daytime television lulls you to sleep. The reviving smell of warm toast, that next glimmer of life, is still days away. Hours accumulate, turn into days, and slowly you come back to life. Appetites return as ginger-ale inventories dwindle. The sun becomes more welcome. A hot shower melts your aches away for good. Life returns to normal. Back to work tomorrow...
Ha, I love being sick because then I get to lie on the couch and watch movies without any guilt.......I consider it my annual vacation. Hee hee. Feel better soon, kiddo.
ReplyDeleteOMG I am recovering from the flu and cannot imagine loving being sick with this. At first my head felt as if it would explode right out through my eyes. I couldn't eat only wanted water to drink, could not get comfortable.I sneezed and coughed and went through a whole box of kleenex in two days. The headache went away and now the body aches have come. Taking a shower takes all my energy and then I have to nap. Cannot think or concentrate well. Food doesn't interest me. I cannot change it and am just going with it. Time will make me better. This one is a really nasty virus and I can see how the vulnerable die from it.
ReplyDeleteHoping you feel better soon!
Yikes, the flu bug. Sorry it didn't skip you this season around. -- barbara
ReplyDeleteThanks for the well wishes. Just a good old fashioned head cold that's on the downhill side. Hopefully I will be doing a little catch up here in the next few days. Takes a couple days to get the engine running on all eight cylinders again.
ReplyDeleteHave not had a cold or the flu in years. We eat only homemade and organic home grown fresh. No can food for us. Good old homemade Chicken soup for a cold with lots of onions and garlic in it. Feel better.
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