I am amazed at how quickly a small sick can snowball into something annoying and then debilitating. I woke up this morning with a slight sneeze that could be ignored and am now curled in bed late at night about to drain a bottle of nyquil with a stuffed up nose, recurring sneezing fits, and a very upset… everything. To use a much enjoyed phrase, that escalated quickly.
When I was a kid I felt invincible to such things. A cold was like running through a wall made of toilet paper rolls. It barely slowed me down all the way through college. Now it feels like these things have gotten much stronger. More likely: I have grown much weaker. Faded really. I’m seeing all of these men young and old in the gym looking like workout gods and thinking to myself, where did I go wrong in all of this? And now a cold has me commiserating on a blog. How the mighty have fallen.
I suppose that is the point here, or at least part of it. The mighty have fallen quite low, but that fall is always part of the story. It is the end for a lot of people, but I think I have at least two more acts in me. I think I have enough left to make a legitimate life after this multi-decade holding pattern. I think it has already started. I also think that I can grow old gracefully if I don’t let the old happen all at once as it has been. That is a question of more than state of mind. It is about state of action as well.
Some Thoughts:
- The upside of sick day should have been grading. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.
- It was Minecraft. A lot of minecraft with the kids. Good times were had by all…
- My youngest is finally very excited about this next football game. He is looking forward to a legitimate challenge against a top team. We will see how it goes, but I know it will go down with him giving it his all. That is the most important part.