A recap of my weekend, including Monday since I stayed home:
Friday night I got sick, from food poisoning it would seem, though I can’t think of a single thing in my diet on Friday that would have had that effect. Has anyone ever gotten food poisoning from a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? I know it wasn’t the night’s pizza for dinner because I had already started some sickness symptoms prior to eating it. Getting to experience my pizza twice (once on the way down, once on the way up) was less than thrilling. Perhaps my Grande Soy Tazo Chai™ from Starbucks that morning that I didn’t really finish until sometime in the afternoon, after it had sat on my desk much of the day? I would put more emphasis on that thought if it wasn’t for the fact that I have done that innumerable times before and never had that problem. Whatever it was, it was not fun. My body seemed to think there was still stuff to get rid of LONG after I had gotten rid of everything humanly possible. In that state, it’s the little details that can make a big difference…. such as, noting that cleaning the toilet within the last couple of days was most serendipitous. We have friends in Rwanda right now that are on a mission trip, and they mostly all caught some sort of virus that involved multiple trips to a toilet that was rather less clean. Ahh the joys of piped running water and flush toilets and soft beds. My prayers went out to them, once i got my self-involved head out of my own misery for a little bit. I admit my prayers for myself were rather more like… Oh God! NO MORE! I can’t take it!! Please God! Ohhhh here we go again…. owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I got very little sleep.
Saturday morning I was afraid to eat, but I was incredibly full of energy considering my lack of sleep and my exhaustion from being sick. I played World of Warcraft for a few hours, took Miss Plum to work, then got to work on the blackberry bushes in the back yard. This may have been a big mistake. Overexertion and heat-exhaustion kicked in and I almost passed out, since I was operating on little sleep, little food, and little water. After laying down and cooling off for an hour or so, I joined Yohan in the garage to sort through the “amazing pile” of boxes of STUFF we have so we don’t have to move what we don’t want. I was strong and got rid of some things I’ve been holding on to for no reason except denial. Holding on to my skis meant I was still a skier, right? Holding on to my tennis racquet meant I might still learn to play tennis some day! Holding on to boxes of notes from my childhood meant I was still young, right? I actually got rid of my old journals even. I have realized that every time we move I end up rereading them and get depressed over the things that happened then. Do I really need to remind myself what a shit my boyfriend was when I was 17?? Really?? You know what? I don’t need that anymore. buh-bye!
Saturday night we took Miss Blueberry and picked up Miss Plum from work, then went out to eat at Zao – a noodle place. It was soooo good! Then we went to see Happy Feet. What a great movie! It was hysterical. A definite keeper. That’s going on my wishlist at Amazon as soon as it shows up to pre-order. I may even have to see it in the theater again! I’m not much of a theater movie person because all of the little noises that people make bug the shit outta me. Crackle of candy boxes, popcorn, slurping soda, people whispering, kids kicking my seat. That stuff drives me bonkers.
Sunday we went to church. Pastor James was speaking, and it was great to see him speaking again. His mother, his wife, and his daughter all have cancer in varying forms, and the toll is understandably difficult. Last week was his first week speaking in a long time and it really lifted my spirits to see him rallying back. In the afternoon, more going through boxes and repacking. I hope we have about 1/2 of what we moved last time by the time we are ready. I’m sick of moving crap around that I really don’t need, but I’m just too lazy to go through or too weak to toss away even though i no longer need it. Now that we are moving into a house we will own and hopefully won’t be moving for quite some time, we decided it was time to get a bit ruthless with our packing and not move anything we don’t really want. A time-consuming process to be sure.
Sunday night I was kinda tired and since Yohan has to get up at 4am on Mondays, we headed to bed around 10pm. I took a sleeping pill to help me get to sleep. Usually if I take one, I only take one half. Last night for whatever reason I took a whole pill.
This morning (Monday) when I woke up I was basically incoherent. I was able to stay awake enough to call my work and tell them i was staying home sick, to call Yohan and let him know I was staying home, and that was it. Every time I woke up i was falling back into dream state while I was still awake! I couldn’t discern what I had done and what I had dreamt I’d done. I slept until 2pm in the afternoon, when I finally woke up feeling … alert. 10pm to 2pm! That’s one long-ass sleeping pill!! Then after I’d been up for a couple of hours playing my game, I felt a little drowsy and I went into my room to just “rest my body” for a few minutes. yeah, right. 2 hours later, I woke up again. Now, it’s 12:20am and I mercifully I actually feel semi-tired. I might make it to sleep tonight before say…. 3am.
Monday nights are my small group night and we got together as usual at 7pm until 9pm. Just as we were finishing up for the evening, we had just finished praying for our friends in the Rwanda mission, and the phone rang. Our small group leaders are married, and the husband is in Rwanda on this mission. He called just as we said Amen. We got him on speaker phone and got to hear about some of the stuff they are doing and seeing, and it sounded (other than the sickness going around) so awesomely wonderful.
I want to go someday. I want to meet the girls we sponsor. They have met many of the children that couples in our group sponsor and they report that the children are sooo happy to meet them, even if they are just emissaries for the sponsors bringing a picture or a letter to the child. We sponsor two girls there in Kigali and I just didn’t think to ask anyone on the mission to look for them. I feel bad about that. I hope they don’t think we don’t care, because we do. They are beautiful girls with big smiles and they are so happy to be able to go to school and to get a hot meal. It amazes me that we can change these girls lives by sending $29 a month. I can’t imagine $29 a month doing much of anything for anyone in America. Certainly not a months’ worth of hot meals, education, and clothing, and even a place to stay, for many of them are orphans from the Rwandan genocide. Not our girls, but many many of the other children are either orphans or have only one parent due to the genocide. Parents dead from the genocide or in prison from participating in the genocide. I’m very happy that our church works closely with a church there and has participated in building orphanages and a school and a chapel and is now working on building a center to do those things plus teach men and women skills with which they can earn a living.
Well, it’s now 12:35 and I’m going to see if I can get some sleep.
Silently Surviving 