Whatever Wednesday: Down with the Sickness

No, I'm not writing about Disturbed. For the past several days, beginning last Thursday night if I remember correctly, my sweet, wonderful, beautiful wife, Meghan, has been feeling under the weather. It started with a bit of a headache and that "sick feeling" in your throat (also, why do we not have a medical term for this yet? It's been around since the black plague, yet all we've got for it after a half-dozen centuries is "that sick feeling?" We can do better, Science! GET ON IT!). That quickly progressing to a nagging cough and an all around feeling of awfulness and exhaustion. The situation improved slightly leading into Monday, but the cough and throat issues have persisted. Yesterday, she came home and greeted me with a bass tone that I only get to hear when she's impersonating me, but she couldn't help it. Today, she called me on the phone and I could barely make out what she was saying because her voice was so shot from all the talking that she has to do at school.

She's heard everyone's home remedies to this point to fix the situation, including my father's mixture that made me dry heave the one and only time I allowed him to treat me with it when I was 16: lemon juice, honey, and Jack Daniels. I hadn't eaten all day. Apparently recipes for a sore throat cure are also recipes for disaster. My favorite remedy that's been pitched her way sounded like it would cause more sickness on top of it all: honey and vinegar. I'll stick with the no voice, thanks.

It's one of those situations where you just feel absolutely helpless. My grand solution is offering to make tea and suggesting that she get "plenty of liquids." Yes, that'll do the trick: liquids. And no, I don't narrow it down, she can have whatever liquids she feels will be most beneficial. All in all, though, there's really nothing I can do but be supportive, be there for whatever she needs, love on her whenever I get the chance, and pray. That's my approach to our marriage in a nutshell, actually.

I've worried off and on that I may catch whatever it is that she has. I mean, when you sleep in the same bed, contagiousness has a pretty high success rate. That being said, I rarely get sick. I mean, it's almost irritating to her how rarely it happens. I honestly couldn't even tell you the last time that I came down with anything. I think I may have had a bit of a cold one time since we've moved to Tampa, but that's about it. I'll get the occasional runny nose or allergy issue, but nothing that's sustained over several days, at least nothing that slows me down. I live my life at a leisurely, relaxed pace in the first place, so "taking it easy" when I'm not feeling well is kind of a moot point.

On the few times that I have been sick, I'll be honest, I'm a bit of a burden. Let me explain something first... Berry men tend to be very self-reliant. We love to help others, but we don't like to have other people doing things for us. Maybe it's a desire for control, maybe it's a way to avoid owing people, and maybe it's just a sense that we don't want to be a burden, who knows. But while we're as self-sufficient as they come, when we get sick? We're about the most pitiful bunch that you'll ever see. It's like a switch is flipped and anything that I'd never let Megs do for me before is suddenly OK. I stay in my PJs all day. I never get off the couch or out of the bed. I sprawl. I don't normally do these things, but when I'm sick, everything is in play. Especially since the whole ordeal is likely to last only a day, maybe two if it's really bad, I have to live it up while I've got it. Sooner or later, it will be back to work and back to normalcy.

So on this most glorious of Whatever Wednesdays, please pray for Meghan. I hate seeing her down with the sickness, and I hate being as helpless as I am with all this. She's the best person that I know, and if the voice of reason in this house can't talk, well... then we're all going to be miserable. P.S. - I'm not learning sign language.