The View From Mrs. Sundberg's Window

A kind of hope

December 12, 2011

Listened to the show Saturday and it was not bad. I was feeling pretty good after a day with family, a holiday gathering at my brother's home to the north -- all kinds of dips and ham and turkey and potatoes in a cream sauce and bars and cookies. Just about anything a person might want to eat. We did a few photos and laughed and talked and played Scrabble and just WERE together. A good ol' time.

It wasn't until sometime on Sunday that Whatever It Is that I have set in. It wasn't the food or anything, and I haven't been running myself into the ground. But I did catch a bug, a virus, a malaise, and Lord Almighty it flattened me good. I was functioning pretty well on Monday even, but Tuesday I had to lie down and I haven't gotten up since except for a few bathroom visits and a number of trips to the kitchen for Alka-Seltzer Cold medicine, the orange fizzy pills, best thing for malaise since cod liver oil which I've yet to try and hopefully never will.

I don't think I have to say how much I loathe being incapacitated. So I won't. I will say the world is different when you are forced to retire to a couch for more than a day, and you notice things. I've noticed that there are cobwebs in the corners of the family room ceiling. I've noticed that the neighbors' Christmas lights continue to flash in my head a good three minutes after I close my eyes. I've noticed that my body isn't as young as it used to be and I have to gear up to roll over when my head is pounding and my body aches. And I've noticed that, amidst everything in our lives, there are only a few things we truly need. Water is one. Comfort is another. And to have our existence acknowledged and affirmed is pretty darn big.

I think the best moment of the past few days was when Mr. Sundberg came downstairs with a cool glass of water. He handed it to me, tucked my blanket in around my legs, and touched my forehead. It made me feel alive and I felt a kind of hope. (A bit different from the kind of alive I felt when the kids let the hamsters run over my blanket while I slept comfortably until one of them climbed up behind my ear.)

So here's to cool water and forehead kisses and the hope of feeling good again.

Here's a short one, a quick recipe for a holiday treat that everyone will love, and I like to think it's a healthy one, too. Protein in those nuts, you know. And chocolate takes care of the rest.

Peanut Clusters

24 oz vanilla almond bark
12 oz milk chocolate
6 oz semi sweet chocolate
2 lb salted peanuts
Melt together and mix well.
Drop by spoonsful onto wax paper.
Refrigerate.