Another Day in the Country
Under the weather
© Another Day in the Country
I guess I’ve been under the weather, not feeling up to par, less than my best, down for the count, not OK, having caught a bug.
It sneaked up on me.
In life, you can expect a few low-level days, but this one came after I’d treated myself to a massage — and it was a good one!
I got up off the table, got dressed, drank some water like every smart receiver of massages should do, said, “Thank you, very much. That was wonderful,” paid the bill and started to sneeze.
It was a windy day, so I blamed the constant sneezing on the weather — even though I hadn’t been sneezing before the massage.
The sneezing continued. You know the scenario: Your head feels stuffy, your throat scratchy, and by the next day, you have low energy.
I was “coming down with something.”
I’m an old hand at keeping myself well, so I did all the tricks I knew: drinking lots of water, taking hot baths with Epsom salt, cutting back on eating, making some chicken soup, and getting extra rest, more fluids, and high doses of Vitamin C and garlic.
Surely, this would get better, but it didn’t want to. Seemingly, the bug had rented my body for a specific length of time (a week to 10 days) and insisted on staying for the duration.
It took a week. I’ve been impatiently doing everything possible to heal, but a body has its own pace, and I had to bow to its wisdom, even though I didn’t want to.
Finally, today, I got the signal that I was on the mend.
It began before I was out of bed. I’d slept well — a little longer than usual. The sun already was up.
What did I want for breakfast? That was the sign. I was hungry.
After breakfast, sitting out on the porch in the warm sunshine, I started making lists of things I needed to do. And then, I got up and proceeded to check them off. That’s a definite sign of wellness.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being energetic and 1 being listless. I’m a 6, just over “so-so,” which would be a 5. And I’m improving.
Every day, I celebrate a whole host of things: sunshine, flowers, trees turning color, wonderful weather, fresh apple cake, ducks splashing in water, a friend stopping by.
But I pretty much take my body for granted. I do try to be supportive in keeping it healthy with exercise, good food, etc. But because it has worked so well for so long, it’s easy to take it for granted.
Just like my computer, which I’m typing on right now. I pretty much take it for granted. I come into the office, sit down, start typing, scrolling, looking, searching — and suddenly it won’t work.
It’s old, I had to look up when we actually got this new one. It’s been years and years. I was shocked. It still seems new-fangled to me.
I still don’t use a half of its capabilities but I suddenly discovered it was obsolete because it’s more than 10 years old. It no longer has the wherewithal to accept new programs.
The only things this computer will do at the moment are word processing and emails. It hasn’t been able to handle any upgrades for some time now. It refuses most connections on the internet, like paying bills, accessing websites. Too old. Out of date. Obsolete. Almost good for nothing.
My mind was racing. Surely there was something it could do. It still looks fine. Could my grandson play games on it? Maybe. Does he need something like that around here on his twice-a-year visits? No.
I had to just give up, get with the program, and order a new one. Of course, there were endless choices — how big, how smart, how new.
Did I want a laptop, desktop, touch screen?
“Stay with what you know,” my son-in-law told me.
I finally did it! I ordered another Apple. Waiting for it is like watching a pot waiting for it to boil.
Meanwhile, I’m gearing myself up to accept a new member of the family. It will be like inviting into my home a stranger who will staying permanently — a cocky, young, newfangled one at that.
I really don’t relish getting acquainted. I’m afraid I’ll be judged, deemed inadequate, unskilled, bumbling, rejected, an abject failure with innovation.
I’m also giving myself pep talks, “You can do this, Pat,” especially because I’m no longer under the weather and it’s a beautiful, warm, fall day in the country.