Hey y'all!
It started as a tickle in the back of my throat. Then, there was an occasional cough. It didn't catch me by surprise; my wife had been hacking and coughing for more than a week, but she's immunocompromised, and catches everything.
On Friday, I was at an event where I was running tech for a client, and after lunch I began to feel a bit rundown, but I put that down to the extreme introversion required at such a thing. People in large groups exhaust me. It's not you—it's me. I came home and collapsed on the couch.
Saturday, we had planned to drive three hours up and back to my mom's house to be at my nephew's birthday party, but when I woke up on Saturday, I knew that just would not happen. After I let the folks at church know I wouldn't be preaching on Sunday, I went on to sleep most of Saturday. I then slept ten hours Saturday night and spent most of Sunday on the couch.
I hate being sick under the best of circumstances, and these circumstances are not those. I have two income-producing projects I really should have been done with before December started, I am reworking my membership program, and I'm going to be traveling to my sister-in-law's memorial service this weekend. It's a busy, busy time.
But I have learned that if I don't take time to be sick, my body will take the time for me, and it cares less about my priorities and goals than I do. Hard-won experience has taught me that when I feel sick, it's time to be sick. So I hunker down on the couch, where I watch British murder mysteries and eat soup. I cancel appointments and resist the urge to feel shame. I consider my energy levels, and while I may work on something low-energy, I also have no fear of closing my laptop and taking a nap.
And I on-ramp back to work slowly. Monday was just a half-day for me, and today (Tuesday), I feel pretty good. I do not know what it was – apparently, a 72-hour bug is not a thing- but I weathered it well, and now I have my life back.
I recognize that not everyone can decide when they work and when they don't, and that in our capitalistic world many folks can't afford to be sick. But many of us can, and choose not to. A friend who works in HR at a large corporation said that most folks don't use all their available sick days. I see people brag on social media about "pushing through", and honestly, it just seems sad.
When you are well, be well, but when you are sick, be sick. Nothing in nature is supposed to be moving at 100% all the time—including you.
Five Beautiful Things
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
We humans move around upright, just a fathom or less above the ground, and it's easy to believe that this is all there is. I think this is why aerial photography fascinates me so much - to see the world as a bird does gives one a whole new perspective. Check out the winners of the 2025 Aerial Photograph of the Year awards.
An open secret in the online writing world is that gift guides are a cash grab. Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, your inbox fills with people suggesting you buy this $40 candle or that $300 pillow, all of which are either sponsored links or affiliate links. So I particularly loved the low or no spend gift guide from Cup of Jo this year. And trust me, this is one of the times you definitely want to read the comments.
Kristen Meyer uses organic materials--leaves, flowers, stem--to create art that simulates other things, like circuit boards or the human heart, for example. It's just lovely. 
