Not Alone...

Midday yesterday at work, I started to feel a little icky. Was I getting sick? I spent the afternoon downing hot tea, never feeling any better. At ten ‘til five, I walked out the door, grabbed some soup on my way home, and went to bed early.

This morning, I woke up at six feeling like complete death. As I took the dog outside, I found that I had to sit down and rest at the bottom of the stairs before walking her out the door. Back inside, I pulled out my thermometer… fever of 103. I dug through the medicine cabinet and found eight expired Advil.

Crap. I’m not married or dating. I live alone, and my nearest relative lives 1500 miles away. Most days I’m perfectly ok with that, but on days like today, it just makes me wonder. I laid in bed and cried. I felt so bad, so tired, and I could barely move. I hated to call someone. Who would I call? What would I do? I knew I was too woozy to make a trip to the grocery store on my own.

I pulled out my laptop and went on facebook. Status Update: Ana is stuck at home with a temp of 103. If you’re willing to walk Martha or run to the drugstore, please let me know.

Within minutes people responded. Despite never leaving my bed, I am now equipped with cold medicine, advil, alka seltzer, wheat bread for toast, margarine, saltines, ginger ale and a variety of other things that people dropped off throughout the day. It’s funny. I have this perspective that it’s always me and Martha against the world, as if we are totally alone. Today I found out that I have a wonderful support network out there. All I have to do is break my self-sufficient front and ask for it.

It's a good feeling.