Feelin' A Bit Under The Weather

Yeah, so we're feeling a mite peaked 'round these parts. Thankfully it's just the aches & pains, and not the other kind of flu.

Still, not fun.

Yesterday, while doing the simple task of folding laundry, I found myself perspiring profusely, as though I'd just been practicing for a football game by doing wind sprints and push ups (not that I've ever done this, mind you, but so my husband tells me...) and suddenly felt great sympathy for all those I know of suffering from hot flashes, because I'm pretty sure that episode was a taste of what they feel like.

In that fuzzy pre-sickness state before actually realizing I was sick, I started to get a little worried. I know I'm not in the best physical shape, but come on...getting winded and sticky just from folding laundry? What is wrong with me?

Which caused me to think wild thoughts like maybe my heart was acting up. And then I began to feel really sad and sorrowful thinking about what would become of my family if I were to die of a heart attack. Then guilty for having fallen woefully behind on my scrapbooking, so there would be no physical memories of Judah and his mommy, just the virtual ones on my blog, which would eventually get cut off because I wouldn't be around to update it, which made me a weepy, miserable wreck.

And that was when I noticed my back and joints ached.

Like sunshine on a dreary day, I realized, it was the flu. Just a harmless little old case of the flu!

Okay, so flu's aren't exactly harmless, or little, but hey, in light of all my half-delirious concerns in the preceding hour, the flu sounded pretty good in comparison.

I put Judah down and took myself off to bed for a much needed nap.

Naturally, it didn't last long. Maybe 40 minutes tops.

That's because when one of my kids is sick, my mother's ear becomes bionic. Jericho was calling for me from his bedroom, with the door closed and a fan on inside, to my bedroom down the hall also with the door closed...and still I could hear him. Which also accounts for my severe lack of sleep the past couple of nights.

In the process of getting up to get him some food, Judah woke up calling for me, and the possibility of a longer nap was all over. I trudged to the kitchen to get the boys some lunch.

After feeding the kids, I got a call from the church secretary, telling us that our friend Michael is in the hospital with gallstones, and about to go in for emergency surgery. Which necessitated a flurry of phone calls, e-mails and text messages to all the appropriate parties to get back-up help into the church tomorrow to get things ready for our AWANA "workshop" day, which is where kids bring their Grand Prix cars in to work on them and get them ready for next Saturday's race. By the time I was done, I was exhausted.

Judah, as fresh from his short nap as though he'd slept all night long, took the opportunity to run along the sofa and knock over the piles of folded clothes from yesterday. And Jericho, who is remarkably chipper for such a 'sick' child, requested more toast. While that was in the toaster oven, I looked around in dismay at my sorry mess of a kitchen, and I knew that there was no way I would be using this weekend to get the house in shape for Holiday decorations. *sigh*

A quick glance at the clock told me it was still hours before Jeff got home from work. *heavy sigh*

Just when I was at my wits end, feeling icky and irritable, Judah came in looking up at me like this and asked in an endearing little voice, "I hold you?" all sweet and cuddly.

Scrap the plans for a clean house. We're going to go kick back on the couch for a couple of hours and watch Pride & Prejudice.