Sick on a Saturday

I awoke in a sleepy haze around midnight with stomach cramps and waves of nausea. Not including the normal winter colds first grade teachers tend to get, I don't normally get sick. Awashed in discomfort and confusion, it's funny what runs through your brain when you're getting sick. Do I need to go to the bathroom? Can I just ignore this? If I lay absolutely still, will this go away? Feeling increasingly achy, there was no way to stay still and I woke Mike up.

As a single gal, being sick is an entirely different experience. Suffering, in silence or not, goes unheard and you are free of worry that you may wake someone up.

Unfortunately, it was becoming rapidly obivious that I'd be making several mad dashes for the toilet and my worries shifted to my stomach. Kids might have to hear me wretch a little. Mike might have to sleep downstairs.

After each trip to the bathroom, I'd sit on the cool bathroom tile and my discomfort would subside as I'd think of those moments in my life when the passage of time slows and clarity fills in the open space.