It is a good thing that this isn't a video blog because all of you can still hear me. Those people who I interact with daily can't. Yesterday I started to get a dry cough and by the end of the workday I was so tired I couldn't hardly move. I woke up in the middle of last night drowning in my own sinus drainage and having trouble breathing. Today I had to teach my student on the bench and with all the talking my voice has left me like Ursula took it for my legs. I have the really low range so I can talk like a man, but I have nothing from medium to high. Also about two weeks ago I started having trouble with the vision in my left eye. It was unable to focus in the distance, like I had suddenly gotten more blind than I already am, and there was a constant smear across it, as if you were looking through a lens that needed cleaning. I've gone to the eye doctor for that and have steroid eye gel that I get to drop in twice to three times a day. I also got another prescription of my allergy eye drops and with both of those the vision has gotten much better. I'm still wearing my glasses constantly but it could be worse. So in honor of my body falling apart, here are five things I am thankful for. You never know how much you use them until you don't have them.
1. My voice.
Apparently I talk A LOT. Today when the 12 o'clock person came in she said it was creepy because it was so quiet. I'm loud and I know it, but I didn't know how loud. Also I found out how much Mom says "What?". I repeat myself a lot at home and usually at a louder volume for her and without a voice it's just frustratingly pointless. I've already resorted to charade-like gestures to get my point across. And I guess she's going to learn how to read lips.
2. My eyes.
When one of your eyes is out of focus the other eye obviously struggles to make up for it. Working this weekend with one of my eyes completely out of focus gave me a serious headache. I wanted to find an eye patch from an old costume to give me a break. I even had a mind to tape some gauze over it for relief. I did not resort to either. Instead I often took my glasses off for close-up work so that both of the eyes were out of focus and working equally hard to make it clear. It made me feel SO old. On top of that when I was at the eye doctor he said that I should think about multi-focal lenses. Which mean basically "bi-focal lenses." I'm 32. Bi-focals, REALLY? Can't I get some trendy reading glasses? (Which I already did when I was at the bookstore the last time.)
3. Technology.
Now I'm not a BIG fan of how plugged-in the world is today. But yesterday I was at a store just checking out a high price item I was going to buy online. (I'm being ambiguous because it will have it's own post when it comes...) Well, of course, a friendly associate came up and asked if I needed help. I said no, Mom said yes. So I asked him a couple of questions about said item and he couldn't answer most of them. He asked if I was purchasing it today and I told him it was online (from the same store I was in, I'm not cruel). He said we could purchase it in-store and I reluctantly agreed. We went over to a terminal and he searched the website for it. I couldn't remember the exact package I wanted but we found one that was "close". Now I'm really picky about my stuff and if I've done the research on something, I want what I looked at and decided on, not something that's "close". Luckily he said that since it was from a Marketplace vendor and not the store itself, he couldn't order it. I went home happy. I'd gotten to play with the item, see it's competition and know that I was getting the better of the two, and leave so that I could go buy what I wanted. When I got home I hopped on my iPad, found the exact package I had been looking at the day before (which he couldn't find), add everything to my cart, assess the amount I'd be paying leisurely and not under stress to buy more or add insurance, chose 12 month no-interest financing and very nervously clicked purchase. Thank you technology for allowing me to buy things while sitting in my comfy chair at home in my pajamas.
4. Honey.
Because of the severeness of the allergy season this year we have been eating local honey to try and curb some of the reactions. Now I know you are going to say, well I guess that didn't work. But I haven't been eating it as regularly as I did at the beginning of the month and all these symptoms have come on. Psychosomatic or not, I don't really care. It tastes delicious and if allergies are a valid excuse to have a piece of toast with honey on it once a day, I'm gonna take it.
5. My Mom.
Here's the sappy one. I really couldn't do all this life thing without someone to help me and be there with me. My Mom is awesome and I can't tell her enough or express enough gratitude for all that she does for me. I mean she just put together our lunches for tomorrow. And she does dishes (which I hate). Sometimes I can be a real jerk, but she just brushes it off and never takes the bait. It makes it really hard to fight with her, which is both good and bad. I asked her what she wanted for Mother's Day and she said, "Nothing" and meant it. She doesn't see the need of purchasing more stuff on a holiday that should be shown all throughout the year. But on Mother's Day I did see something at Amazon that was on sale that she'd like. So I got it with two day shipping and it arrived today. "Happy Mother's Day!" I said in my pathetic excuse for a voice when the package was on our doorstep. It was a purple infuser mug like my turquoise one from a couple of posts back. Now we have two wonderful mugs!
What small things are you thankful for?
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