Portrait in Linen

I don’t know how we survived the day. I could barely stay awake at the stop lights through town. I had to rest my eyes and told Rocky to let me know when the light changes. I put the seat back and grabbed ten-minute naps behind the wheel outside the music building, the gym, the dollar store. And it wasn’t dozing either–total, unconscious power naps.

I did what I had to do. Stayed in my pjs, clipped my hair up out of my face so I could see where I was driving, took the meds and the hanky. Rocky called Bennigan’s ahead of time and ordered me a bowl of potato soup to go. I honestly didn’t have an appetite, but I needed the hot nourishment. Swung by Starbuck’s and got a steamed apple juice, because I needed the fluids. That put me to sleep like a shot of whiskey.

Somehow, we made it everywhere we needed to be, on time, despite the traffic, and I didn’t get us into a wreck.

Josie introduced me to the concept of a Hot Toddy. Apparently, it’s good for sick folks.

Hot Toddy

• 1 oz. Brandy
• 1 Tablespoon Honey
• 1/4 Lemon
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• 1 Tea Bag

Coat the bottom of a mug with the honey. Add brandy and juice of lemon quarter. On the side, boil water and add tea bag to make hot tea. Pour steaming tea into honey/brandy/lemon combination. (DrinkoftheWeek.com)

I didn’t have brandy, so I used vodka. The recipe she really likes includes mint or cloves, which would really open up the sinuses, but I had neither so I omitted. It was a comfy drink, but it went from hot to warm pretty fast, and I found it a little bland. Maybe it needed a little more honey and definitely the mint.

I decided I’ll try another drink tomorrow:

Hot Buttered Rum

Combine in a footed coffee mug:

• 1 1/2 oz. Dark Rum
• 1 tsp. Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp. Butter

Fill with hot water or milk. Stir well and top with Nutmeg.

Of course, I’ll have to wait until I get home from traversing the city from corp. limit to corp. limit, and then I can swoon and collapse into bed, and succumb to sleep and exhaustion, like I should be at this very moment.

The worst part of this illness is, I sound like a frog. A very, very old, dry frog. And I can only squeak out about four words before I’m out of breath. I hate not being heard. It was weird today, having to rely on the Evil Eye alone in order to maintain law and order. It worked for the most part, and I was stunned how much calmer the kids seem to be when I am (seem to be).

As far as the nature of the beast, first guess is the Common Cold. Second guess, Strep Throat, because there’s really not much going on beyond the trachea and lungs. Definitely not flu, because there really hasn’t been much of a fever.

No matter what it is, it’s going to take about 14 days for the cough to disappear completely. Maybe I’ll get my voice back in a week. In the meantime, it’ll be kind of nice not talking.