Woke up to a very stiff back and neck, all nauseated and what not. A hobble to the bathroom followed by an abortive attempt to put myself together, “Oh come on, it’s only a stiff painful back, just a bent-over-forwards-back, you can make it – just dish-out a couple of Utthapams, dodge a couple of sweet but bizarre back-and-forths as you serve those to your pretty pre-teen, fill-up a 15L kettle for warming up drinking water(that’s what a 1.5L kettle feels like to a sleepy mouse with an achy back and shoulders), chew chew chew flax seeds, pack a snackbox, bottle, bag, grope for a dress in darkness, take a shower, get bundled up from head to toe, fish-out house keys from the messiest drawer in the world and finally venture-out in the darkness of a wintry morning – all this with a stiff back bent forward.”
No, I can’t. Not today. Mrs. X, my well-meaning peering-deep-into-my-eyes coach at The Institute would yet again be disapppointed. So be it !
Plop! Back into the bed I flop. A shuffle, a snuggle, take my little boy’s delicious sleeping hand in mine and ache away in a lying position until you-know-who wakes up, notices and helps out. I wasn’t going to wake him up to another day of “G, this is happening…”, “G, that is hurting” and ” I can’t… “. It was a long wait until he did.
Notwithstanding, you-know-who does really help me out of this ‘I am a disaster , I need urgent medical help’ mode every time. Though having to accept that nothing that serious has happened wasn’t easy(what with an ego irrigated by the Internet-of-Hypochondriacs), what really got me going in the end, was the fact that when he did wake up, he sat me down, fed me, gave me water, tea, a hot water bottle for my back, a phone to call whichever doctor I wished to for an earliest possible appointment.
This one person is special in more ways than one. I feel loved when he’s around though I may not always see or understand and appreciate his ways(but that’s my limitation, not his). Never demands anything in return. He shows me how to love unconditionally everyday.
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Wonderful piece of writing Anu. Very touching and impactful writing.
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Thank you very much, Reshmi.
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