Sick Day 1

I'm a girl on the move. I'm busy, I have a lot on my plate and I like it that way. A run before volleyball? Sure! Bike 18 miles round trip to work, go to yoga, cook dinner, and clean the house? Easy! (you think I'm exaggerating?) Well sometimes I can't even keep up with myself and my body reminds me that, contrary to how I run it, it is not a machine and it slows down...way down...until I am a prisoner of my mortality, held captive until I promise to be a good girl and rest.

Ok, fine, you win filthy icky germs. On the couch I go. You would think that an entire day on the couch with a mug of hot tea, the Dalai Lama's See Yourself As You Really Are, a soft fuzzy blanket wrapped around my shoulders and the cats curled around my feet would be the picture of relaxation and contentment, but somehow feeling like I'm swallowing razors and sucking air through a hole the size of gnat makes it slightly less enjoyable.

I've got my tea and my blanky, I'm inspired by Mr. Lama, and it's nice for the first, oh, half hour or so, but then I get anxious. My eyes keep going to the window where a gorgeous 70-degree sunny day is shaping up without me. How dare the sun shine when I can't enjoy it? It's not fair! I was born to breathe in days like this, to bask in the sunshine, to smell the clean, crisp air. Of course that would require both breathing and smelling, neither of which I am currently capable of.

Nobody to talk to because all of the healthy, functioning people in the world are either at work, school or out enjoying the gorgeous, mocking day, I turn on the TV and I'm shocked to find that out of 172 channels, absolutely nothing is on. After watching bits of Friends, The View, and Mystery Diagnosis I settle on the movie Capote since I've been meaning to watch it and it will at least make me feel like I'm being somewhat intellectual. That's two hours of my life I will never get back.

Next I pick up my laptop and try to write because I'm always wishing I had more time to write. No distractions, the apartment to myself, a perfect opportunity. But instead I stare at a blank screen for a few moments and give up. It seems the germs have taken hostage every functioning brain cell or ounce of creativity I possess.

Bored, frustrated, and depressed, I take a few deeps breaths and give in to napping. Ah, finally... time well spent...