A Visit with Mr. B

Time for a little outdoor sittin (or layin if you're inclined like Nosey the kitty to the far left peeking out from behind the bush)

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted. Sometimes you are just cruising along in life and, all of a sudden, you meet with an obstacle that makes you feel like you've entered a fifth dimension in a faraway galaxy. That's what happened to me.  I was just going along doing what I do, when I began to realize I was entertaining a visitor that I had neither invited into my home, nor did I want him there.  It was Influenza B. I know there are much worse things on this earth than Influenza B, but in my own personal findings in my own personal experiences, I have met few entities that have demanded my attention more than Influenza B. He jumps on for a ride when you least expect it, stays longer than you ever wanted him to, and leaves you feeling weak and vulnerable when he finally departs. For 10 days it is a trip to hell and back (or somewhere close to hell).  After multiple prescriptions given me by my doc and one trip to the ER for a breathing treatment and fluids, I finally have begun to come back around to a land where people smile and laugh, eat good food, and basically enjoy being alive.   

Can anything good come out of being sick as a dog with type B Influenza?  Well, if you know me at all, then you know that I believe EVERYTHING in life serves a purpose, good and bad.  The things we experience on our journey -- good, bad, sad, indifferent -- somehow miraculously fuse together to make up the persona we address as "me, myself, and I."  We are able to sympathize with someone who's going through a divorce if we've been through one.  We can relate to someone experiencing pain when we have shared the experience of that same pain.  I haven't had the flu in a very long time (if ever). They say as you get older, things affect you more adversely, and I believe that sometimes to be true. As we age, we may not have the stamina we once did.  I for one, think that I do however and probably am healthier in a lot of ways now than when I was in my thirties.  I try to take care of myself -- eat decently, exercise, get plenty of rest, stay positive.  So I guess that's a good thing, or else the ol' man flu might've taken me on out of this world.  The headache, the severe sore throat and horrible cough, the body aches and pain, the general feeling of malaise...if I hadn't known better, I would've thought I'd gone back to the days of chemo treatments and the bone pain that comes along with it.  Ugh.  I DO NOT like to be sick.  Being sick is (literally) for the dogs.  Being sick stinks.  Being sick is something I never want to endure again.

I guess you could say that if we are never sick, we can't really appreciate being healthy.  I don't know of anyone who would dare complain of being too healthy, do you?  I think a better way of saying it would be this: Being sick reminds us how wonderful it is to feel well and reminds us to appreciate the times when we are walking in good health.  That's true as well for any of life's problems, hardships, and challenges.  When we face adversity, it's in getting through those difficult times that we are made stronger, more resilient to the hard times that we all, as human beings, face in life.  Kind of like a scar that forms after an injury, making that tissue many times stronger than it was before.  And, after all, it's a good thing because it is a hard knock life, right? Life has a way of knocking you slap off the horse sometimes, but then it's that love for riding that jerks you right back up into the saddle and finds you galloping through the open fields once more.  And it's in looking back on the hard times, the times of vulnerability and struggles, that we find strength and dignity once again.  Let's face it, no one ever hung over the toilet vomiting with dignity.  It just ain't dignified no matter how you look at it.  

So I wish you good health today, strength for struggles and unconditional love, beauty in life and hope in insecure times.  I wish you all the beautiful things that Spring in the south has to offer:  Temps in the seventies, breathtaking flowers, gentle breezes, glorious sunshine, and vibrant green pastures. And I wish you this more than anything:  The completion of the winter of 2015 where you did not -- I repeat DID NOT -- have a visit from Influenza B.  The good thing that has possibly come out of my visit with this intruder?  Next fall, when the media, the health professionals, and everyone and their neighbor is dutifully getting their flu shots, I will be standing in line waiting my turn.  

Influenza B shot?  Yes, please.  Move over, you, it's my turn next.  Hit me with your best stick!  Give me the blankety-blank shot!    

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