Please Make it Stop

I wasn’t feeling too well at all, perhaps repercussions from too many hi-octane beers, the lack of a filling dinner, or a combination of the two. Either way, come morning, I felt like crap. I got up at 10am and made my way downstairs. I felt the need for more sleep and wanted to lie down but couldn’t. I needed to get involved with a couple work related issues. I moved slowly and methodically. The incredibly ill feeling waxed and waned. After getting work related matters temporarily addressed, I plopped down on the familyroom sofa for some additional shut eye. Unfortunately, as much as I needed it, sleep was not easy to come by. I just couldn’t go out. That only made it worse. Mindy slept until noon. She hovered over me on the sofa making light of my Friday night antics. Knowing that I needed to get back on top of work and then also squeeze in a run, I forced myself to my feet. To help curb my upset tummy I ate some cinnamon bread and drank some OJ. However, nothing I did helped that much. Sometime between noon and 1pm I headed out for a run. At the time I was feeling a little better. Plus, I knew the cold air wouldn’t do anything but help. It was fairly cold – about 18 degrees. One benefit of running so late was the plowed streets. Surprisingly, 99% of our subdivision’s streets were already plowed to bare pavement. This, after almost a foot of fresh snow. I ran just three miles, giving myself a free pass for feeling so poorly. I felt good for the run’s duration, but also knew it likely wouldn’t last much beyond its finish. Back home I woofed down some peanut butter toast Mindy had setting on the island. She later berated me for taking it. I figured she didn’t want the rest. It didn’t take too long for my hangover to kick back in. Ugh, I felt terrible! I needed rest but again couldn’t afford it. Work continued to need my intervention, and there was no way I was going to neglect my responsibility. I simply had to struggle through it. I felt so poorly that between work related tasks I would drop to the living room floor just a few feet away from my desk to steal a brief nap only to rise after 10-15 minutes to pick up the pieces again. That went on all afternoon long. Mindy, I noticed, remained in her PJ’s all afternoon. I was surprised that she wasn’t more motivated to shop, or do anything else, although she had been under the weather herself for most of the week. And it’s not like she wasn’t doing anything. She was doing laundry. Earlier, she mentioned doing dinner out, but come about 3 or 4 pm I had to tell her that there wasn’t any way I could do it. I felt too bad, and work was eating me alive. She took it in stride and said she already figured as much. We’d simply plan for a quiet evening at home. The neighbors invited us down to hang out that evening, too, but that was out of the question for me. I needed rest, water, and calm. Having my work laptop set-up at my desk along side my PC made juggling work and managing my music collection a natural. I spent most of my day in my office chair doing one or the other. I got through my first book of CD’s and was already starting on the second as evening approached. I felt hungry but there wasn’t any way I could eat anything of substance. Instead, I snacked on a handful of Triscuits. Not planning to go anywhere, and not having the kids, Mindy and I finally decided to watch Inglorious Basterds starting around 7pm. Sure, we paused it a few times so I could address work related matters, and so she could deal with a few loads of laundry, but we dedicated the next 2.5 hours to the movie. I loved it! Intensely suspenseful and dramatic. Mindy was on the fence. She doesn’t like violent movies, especially ones so graphically violent, which this certainly was. But, just like me, she couldn’t help but be moved by the creative, yet twisting story line. Mindy headed to bed after the movie. I stayed up dealing with work while also moving more of my music collection to PC. I tried going to bed around 11pm but still couldn’t sleep. I felt jittery. To Mindy’s dismay, I got up and headed back downstairs, only this time to the sofa where I watched all of Saturday Night Live. And what might surprise Mindy, I didn’t miss a minute of it.