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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Friend in need

What a surprise!  Chills and unquenchable thirst yesterday, muscles operating with brakes on as I made my way home, squinting at the light, hearing in my head my eyes move, deep sleep till nine and more deep sleep till this morning, recurrent dreams of a group of helpful (ironic?) young people who insisted my name was Eddie. This morning, the internal thermostat has stabilized but I'm moving slow.

What hit me? A 24 hour flu? but I had no respiratory problems or headache. A recurrence of an old malaria attack?  (When I started work as a reporter for The Newtown Bee years ago, I used to get the shakes every second evening, often right in the middle of Conservation Commission meetings.) Did I mishandle some ant-killing pesticide Sunday?

Whatever the reason, it's clear this body has its own independent agenda and concerns. Women must experience this all the time. I remember the time of hot flashes in our house: sudden metabolic overdrive, for no particular reason and often at the most inconvenient moment.

What are we to do with this body that delights, enables, disappoints and provokes us?  What I do know is that yesterday it led me to what it needed most: bed and long sleep.  Not much else I could have done, but glad to be of service.  

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