Slowing Down

We've been getting a little sick and tired of getting sick and tired. Last Friday, Hikaru got sick with a high fever. Three days later on Monday, Mommy got sick and so tired that she couldn't stand up or keep her eyes open.

And finally Wednesday afternoon was Daddy's turn to go down, and he was even on jury duty. However having a hundred degree fever, headache, sore throat, and diarrhea isn't enough to be excused from fulfilling one's civic responsibility as a US citizen. As the judge said, "There's currently a war going on... Being on jury duty isn't much of an inconvenience compared to being a soldier in Iraq." Yes, I suppose, that could be argued to be true. Fortunately, it was quick trial.

My fever finally broke on Friday morning. My body's systems eventually came back online, and I was able to eat something else besides rice porridge. It felt so good to be alive again (and my sense of humor returned too). So what do we learn from all this?

We do realize that our lives have changed from the day Hikaru was born. Getting sick, though, is part of the way we all build up our immune defenses against diseases, so it's a required component of life. Yes, we've gotten sick, but so far (keeping our fingers crossed) we've always recovered too. So we're learning to appreciate our "non-sickness", our health, and to find ways of leading healthier happier lives.

For me, I'm also learning to say it's "OK" to slow down -- and not to be so compulsive about the work stuff that tends to stress me out anyway. Hikaru gets sick; gets well; then he's back to jumping around and having fun. So that should work for adults too, right? I wish I could learn those things without having to get so sick, but maybe there's a reason for everything.