A Box of Chocolates
My life is like a box of chocolates, I never know what I’m gonna get. One morning, recently, I woke up feeling refreshed (a very rare feeling for me) because I had slept well the night before (again very rare). I felt good for most of the day despite the fact that my Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) has flarred and I feel nauseated. But my spirits were good.
From one of my favorite movies, “Forrest Gump.”
The next day I woke up exhausted and in pain. I was in a Fibromyalgia flare and…an IBS attack to go along with it, and as always my trusty friend, chronic sciatica. The Fibromyalgia made me feel like I had a fever all day. My whole body ached and I had very little energy. The IBS made me weak and nauseated. Lately I have been getting used to that feeling because I have it most days. But the triple team effect of these three debilitating conditions really made me feel lousy.
I worked a couple of hours and then came home. My daughter and her husband came over for a short visit. I have found that the adrenaline you receive from looking forward to something can give you the strength to do much more than you thought you could accomplish while you are ailing physically. I still felt lousy when they came over but I enjoyed visiting with them.
My sweet husband stopped at two different restaurant’s and picked up our supper. My daughter and son-n-law are picky eaters and they wanted to eat from one certain restaurant and because of my diet restrictions (and I’m I picky eater too) I wanted another restaurant. My husband accommodated all of us.
After we ate, my daughter wanted to pet one of our cats. We had this cat, Boo Boo, when Miranda was still living at home. Miranda knows that Boo has always been very particular about when and how she wants to be petted. I told Miranda that she needed to be in her zone in order to pet her. So we followed the Boo into the bedroom. I told her to lie down on the bed with me and I showed her how to pet Boo Boo the way that she liked it best.
It was good for me to be able to lie down and rest, and it was great to be able to talk to my daughter and connect with her in this way. Even though I felt bad I found the strength to talk to her and we bonded while we talked about my cats, her cat and just every day life.
Even though it would have been easier to stay in bed all day that day I know that sometimes I need to push myself to get the most out of life. Granted there are those days that I just need to stay in bed to rest my body so that I can give the most to my family and friends for the days ahead. But there are other days that I need to find my inner strength and give it my all.
My life IS like a box of chocolates…it won’t last forever but I try to make the most out of each piece.
