Thursday, September 20, 2012

Wasting Time

I hate being sick.  Like most people, I hate being in pain.  But I also hate watching things go undone because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is literally too weak to do all the things that need being done.

I got sick Monday night, and got very little sleep and was miserable most of the day Tuesday.  By Tuesday afternoon, I was feeling better, and was actually able to eat dinner Tuesday night and felt fine all day yesterday.  Right until bed that is.  Then suddenly the stupid bug came back with a vengeance.  I got almost no sleep, laying on the bathroom floor all night because going back and forth to bed was too much work.  So I have a backyard that's about half as far as I wanted it to be by now (its really not a back yard yet), floors that need mopping, laundry that needs folding, and little girls who have been "plugged in" all day.  Seriously--we went to a birthday party last night, so everyone got to bed late, and Kylie has spent almost the whole day curled up in a chair with the iPad and Netflix.  Grrr.

But, being miserably sick always makes me appreciate the Atonement more.  Because as miserable as I've been, I've spent most of the last couple of days thinking of a very dear friend of mine who has spent the last couple years suffering with an as-yet-undiagnosed stomach ailment that means she is nauseous and miserable nearly any time she eats, but tired and shaky and weak if she doesn't eat.  She has five kids, including a high-demand special needs daughter, and a husband who often works 70-80 hours a week.  Trying to deal with just my two littlest girls most of the time for just two days of this sort of misery has helped me to better understand what she must go through, and increased my love and admiration for her.  As much as I love her, I wouldn't choose to feel this way just to understand her pain.  The Savior did.  And I'm increasingly grateful for that--somehow knowing that you're not truly alone in your misery, that there is someone who understands exactly how you feel, makes the misery just a little less miserable.

1 comment:

Becky said...

Being a sick mommy is the worst! And everything gets neglected when mommy is sick; the cleaning, the cooking, and the entertainment. But, don't feel bad. It is important that you take the time to rest and get better so that you can once again be the mommy.

Feel better soon!