our New Year's in numbers...

In the past 4 days...

I have spent 2 3/4 days in bed.
Adrian has acquired 2,343 points in Wii Boxing.
I sustained a 102 degree fever for 2 days.
Adrian bowled a 258 on the Wii.
Shrek the Third has been watched 6 times.
We have gone through 2 thermometers
. . . 1/2 bottle of Advil
. . . and 1 whole bottle of rubbing alcohol.
Four different movies have been watched, 2 of them at least twice.
I have showered once.

BUT, I'm finally on the mend (thank you God for modern medicine!), and our life is getting back to normal. My New Year's Resolution? To stop being sick. Seriously. That's enough, germs.

In all seriousness, though, every time I get knock-you-off-your-feet sick, it seems I learn something. . . or, often, a few somethings. So, here are this week's strep lessons:

1) Taking care of sick people does not come naturally to everyone. And that's OKAY.

Some of you may not be as surprised at this revelation as I was. But taking care of the helpless, be they sick, young, or old, comes so naturally to me that I can't keep myself from doing it, even when I try (which is probably what landed me in this sickbed in the first place). So it was quite a shock to discover that my husband HATES this job. I thought his complaining at having to go buy me Gatorade meant that he didn't care for me; what I should have realized was that the fact that he went at all means that he loves me more than anyone else. Now if I can just remember that the next time I'm sick. . .

2) It's easy to find your identity (joy, peace, whatever you want to call it) in getting everything done, no matter how long (or short) your to-do list and how much (or little) time you have.

Being sick forces you to slow down, or, in my case these past few days, to stop. And, when I got up on Saturday, the house was a wreck, we didn't have any food, all our clothes and dishes were dirty, phone calls un-returned, and bills unpaid. And . . . life went on. We were happy. We found something to eat. The sky didn't fall. Adrian didn't hate me. God didn't hate me. For 3 days, I wasn't trying to be perfect, and it took those 3 days for me to realize that I had been trying all along. Can somebody say legalisim?

3) Beware the gas company! They will take all your money if you let them.

So, this has nothing to do with me being sick or Adrian playing the Wii until his arms fall off. This has everything to do with the fact that there's only 1 gas company here in town, which lets them do ridiculous things like charge us a fee for the pleasure of being their customer AND a delivery fee for the pleasure of receiving their gas. . . which is part of being their customer? They also charge different rates for the first 20 units, the next 30 units, and all the units after that, with the first 2 categories being 3 to 5 times higher than the last one, of course. . . because it cost them more money to deliver the first 20 units, right?

Anyway, suffice it to say that there has been a lot of lying in bed, movie watching, Wii playing, and lesson learning in our household lately. Happy New Year everyone!