Under the Weather

On Tuesday I was a little under the weather.

I have no idea what caused my illness, but I do know that I shuttled back and forth between my bed and the bathroom well over 20 times during the course of the day.

Experiences like that raise the strangest dilemmas and most profound questions. Is it better just to stay in the bathroom and wait? Should I try to find something a toilet substitute to keep in my room to save me the ever more taxing journey? They also raise architectural questions: why aren't bathrooms fitted with temporary beds? Not being able to do much else for the entire day left me plenty of time to contemplate these oft-ignored issues.

I was scheduled to teach at 6:30, and around 3 or 4 I had thought that I was feeling well enough to go into work. So I didn't phone in sick, but when 5:30 came around, the frequency of my bathroom commuting increased again. So I called my boss to let her know. She said she couldn't find a substitute and so asked me to teach. I dressed and headed in to do my real business.

When I arrived, she pulled me off to the side and said that she had found someone, and she complimented me on my appearance: "You look absolutely awful." I thanked her for her kind words and when her husband offered to drive me back home, I readily consented. We stopped at the local grocer, and he bought me some potatoes and lemons. Then he told me to add a bit of the lemon to water and gave me instructions on how to make a good potato soup.

Two days later, I am happy to report that now I am very much above the weather and back in the swing of things.