I have a code in by dose

I've had a cold for the last week. It's not pretty. I'm coughing enough that I keep thinking I'll crack a rib, my nose is sore and chafed from blowing and the amount of mucus emerging from various orifices makes me feel like a biohazard site. I'm so congested I can no longer speak clearly. All I really want to do is doze and drink tea.


I get one or two bad colds each winter and every time I try consider them gifts from the universe. No matter what I may want to do, I need to stop doing it. I need to stop running around, stop trying to do 17 things at once, stop putting my own need for rest and recuperation behind the business of life. I just have be sick and get better. Because I'm in generally good health I know it won't be fatal, it's just uncomfortable. It's the universe telling me that if I rested more, took the time to look after myself with a little more diligence, I might not have gotten this cold in the first place. And each time I swear I'll remember to take better care when I recuperate.


I manage to do so for a little while. For a week or two I sleep more, take my vitamins and take long, soothing baths. Then something happens and I start rushing again. I forget. Until the next cold.


David Wilcox has a great song about this called COLD, where he says

You ever wonder why you get a cold
Look at the word - spell it - C-old.
C-OLD 
You're pulled over by the reaper for a warning

He says,"I clocked you thinking 80"

You know you're not that old

You've been worried about the darkness in the morning


Colds are reminds to stop rushing through life and simply live it. Don't worry your life away. Drink some tea. Eat some soup. And when you feel better, be grateful for your own self in the midst of busy-ness and the fine world around you. You know, the one you can smell again.


I hope I can remember this time. Now, where did I put those tissues?


(c)2011 Laura S. Packer