Catch My Breath

I’ve been trying lately to just catch my breath. Sometimes work and other obligations trip me up in this regard. This time though it’s a nagging health issue that has thrown me behind where I feel I should be. Seasonal allergies teamed with an elusive fever and an out-of-the-blue ear infection to make my world slow to a crawl. While my world took on a snail’s pace the rest of the world seemed to race right on by me.

During this time, Jennifer and I have been able to once again test that part of the marriage vow I suppose you could call the health clause, you know the part of the vow where you promise to care for one another “in sickness and in health”. At the start of this whole thing, I was a coughing, slobbering mess. I got a bit better in time. Somehow though, I transferred a portion of the sickness stuff to Jennifer. Since the family that coughs together can quickly get on each other's nerves together, we took a trip to see the doctor together. The most memorable part of the visit was when a nurse took our vital signs and then promptly handed us face masks. We then had to wait for a few minutes for the doctor to see us. As we stood there a slight distance away from others, face masks covering our mouths while strangers shot curious and slightly fearful glances our way, Jennifer whispered she felt we were suddenly lepers, sick and standing outside the rest of the group. We laughed through our congestion and those face masks. In sickness and in health, indeed. In time, the doctor emerged, provided his diagnosis and since then a slow recovery has followed.

I must admit while I find a certain charm in watching Judge Judy slice and dice small claims court cases into small pieces with her common sense, I know that the haze of over-the-counter allergy meds combined with the more ramped-up meds the doctor provided has to eventually wear off and will cause me to leave the comfort of the living room couch and return to the real world. The broken rattle I hear and feel when I inhale and exhale will disappear and take with it the cough that bursts out in to spasms I can’t control. The tasks I left undone at home, at work and anywhere else I venture will still be there with my name attached to them. For now though, I’m just trying to catch up to where I left off a week and a half ago. I’ll get there. Just let me catch my breath.