Digressions: My Life in 500 Words or Less

It doesn’t happen often, but it happened last Thursday: Becca and I got sick at the same time. Even less frequent an occurrence is both of us getting sick at the same time when we have a full agenda of activities. Yet even less common an occurrence is both of us getting sick at the same time when we have a full agenda of activities including one we are supposed to host.

Being sick sucks.

Late Thursday morning as I ran an errand, I developed severe cold symptoms. By the time I returned home and prepared lunch, it was in full force.

Meanwhile Becca was at work feeling out of sorts. By the time she got home she just wanted to lie down and sleep. I had taken to bed already.

I had hoped we could battle our illnesses with lots of rest, fluids and medication and still be able to fit in most of our activities.

Bzzt! Wrong answer.

Oh, did I mention: being sick sucks?

Becca’s symptoms became more severe than mine. Both of us had the typical symptoms: runny noses, watery eyes, sneezing and coughing. Becca’s cough was worse, though, and she felt achy to boot.

Though she got up and got ready for work Friday morning, she ultimately had to call in sick. I hoped maybe that full day of rest would get us back in the pink.

Bzzt! Wrong answer. Again.

In case I haven’t said it enough: being sick sucks.

I’m not really sure what the deal was, if maybe Becca had something different than I had or if we had different levels of symptoms from the same illness or even what the illness or illnesses might have been, but things got worse.

We both felt like zombies, sapped of our energy. We ate little because neither of us had much of an appetite.

We ended up spending the better part of three days in bed.

Our plans to attend a charitable fundraising event Friday night? Cancelled.

Our plans to watch the Heartland Parade Saturday morning? Cancelled.

Our plans to host dinner with a group of friends at our home Saturday night? Cancelled.

Being sick sucks.

On Saturday morning, when Becca and I normally would have watched from our porch as parade participants lined up in front of our house, we were still getting bed rest. But I couldn’t resist peeking out our second-story bedroom window to catch glimpses of some of them. I even snapped a few photos.

It wasn’t until Sunday afternoon that we felt well enough to be up and about.

What was most healing for us was our circle of friends. When we had to cancel our dinner gathering, they offered to bring us anything we needed and checked on us. Though we quarantined ourselves, it was comforting to know they were there.

Being sick sucks.

Knowing you have friends there for you when you’re sick makes it suck a lot less.