Sick Day

Today is the first day I have ever called in sick to work. For the two years it has been since I graduated college an entered the working world, any sicknesses I have incurred have conveniently scheduled themselves on holidays and weekends.

I felt a headache coming on yesterday afternoon at work, took medicine, felt it again after dinner during Bible study, and put myself in bed when I got home... after watching the highlights from the Mavs/Spurs game, of course. I woke up, hot and feverish, at 3:30 AM, and alternated between trying to find the cool side of my pillow, waking up as soon as I found sleep and trying to find some form of Tylenol or ibuprofen in my bathroom cabinets.

Just one of those nights.

At 6 AM I started vomiting. That was really breaking point; I gave up on my 24-year-old self-medication and decided to cross back over into my childhood, walk downstairs and tell my mother. Who else would you really want in that situation, anyway? I ended up curled in a ball on the couch downstairs in my robe, dozing with my dog (her usual morning routine), while my mom left for appointments and my dad left for work.

Work sick days are different from school sick days... and when was the last time I was even sick on a school day? I probably could have missed class with an excuse during my sophomore year when I got a minor concussion (which I didn't immediately know was a concussion... another story for another time) but the malady coincided with my finals, which at that point could not be rescheduled.

School sick days were awesome- missing class, lounging at home watching movies, sleeping were the most you could ever hope for from a weekday. Now as a working adult, there is the looming wonder of what am I missing at work? What am I going to have to deal with Monday? There comes a point when it's just enough, clearly your body is trying to tell you something and it probably boils down to two words: slow down.

I wish I could be singing Danke Schoen on a float in Chicago right now, but I doubt my current diet of Saltines and 7-Up would grant me the fortitude for such a production. Besides, my friends are ready to party it up at an engagement dinner for a friend tomorrow night, and who am I to rain on anyone's parade?

Ferris: Cameron, what have you seen today?
Cameron: Nothing good.
Ferris: Nothing - wha - what do you mean nothing good? We've seen everything good; we've seen the whole city! We went to a museum, we saw priceless works of art! We ate pancreas!
***
Ferris: Ladies and gentlemen, you are such a wonderful crowd, we'd like to play a little tune for you. It's one of my personal favorites and I'd like to dedicate it to a young man who doesn't think he's seen anything good today - Cameron Frye, this one's for you...
-Ferris Bueller's Day Off