Not a fairy tale. Princesses never get sick, though they do fall into death-like sleep on occasion. Princes have a knack of arriving at just the right time to perform the necessary life-saving deed, sometimes requiring a battle with evil, but mainly, prevailing by planting a kiss on the fading princess in time to revive her.
This past weekend, we made it through a surgery (relatively minor, husband healing nicely), and four cases of the flu hitting within hours of each other. Bam-bam-bam-bam! The Quadruple Threat Flu of 2013.
We had planned the surgery, knew what to expect, and prepared accordingly. The flu hit without warning, marched along and took down each one of us systematically. We had no way to fight it, and even attempted to sequester healthy family members to try to thwart forces of fever and sickness from reaching them, to no avail.
Doesn't everybody have weekends, weeks, months or even longer seasons like these?
These times try our souls. They demand our patience and our energy even when we have little to offer. To feel absolutely wretched and bereft of any physical strength, yet still find a way to stumble to the aid of another family member means something big.
These times invoke the "in sickness and in health" vow, making me acutely aware of just what it means to give selflessly no matter how I feel, no matter how much I'd rather stay burrowed in and almost-comfortable on the couch after wrangling blankets from every bed and storage chest to divide among the fallen.
These times can bring out our worst. I, for one, felt indescribably awful and haven't felt worse than this in recent memory. I can't meter the illness level of the rest of my family, but my selfishness would like me to think I suffer more than anyone else. Everyone else feels the same way, of course. Sicker than thou. "No one feels worse than I feel, so stop whining," resonates in our heads.
Even with our individual states of mind focused inward, we banded together in our queasy, exhausted, dizzy and shaky forms and tried to help whomever had a need. We bonded in our suffering. We felt each other's pain in a very direct way. We pulled ourselves up a bit more than we might in different circumstances, not waiting to feel waited on because it wouldn't happen in our desired time frame. Misery does love company, and we had a wonderful weekend full of that kind of communion.Near the end of our road to recovery, three of us benefited from the serving strategies of the youngest among us. Our almost-12-year old son had taken the first hit of illness and recovered while the rest of still had a day or more to go. For almost a full day, he filled water glasses, opened pill bottles for his dad and dispensed his doses, gathered and distributed blankets, passed tissue boxes, answered phones and prepared his own meals. One meal consisted of Nutella and cookie sticks, but a hero does deserve some leeway when saving the day for the infirm and suffering.
Our boy's example of selfless giving gave us pride in his empathetic abilities. His independence and sense of responsibility let us see glimpses of the future. He helped fill our needs that day, but filled so much more than water glasses and miscellaneous requests. He filled our hearts with love received in his actions. He filled our minds with thoughts for the future. He filled our souls with the gifts of a servant, the kind he has always given when a need arises.
As we emerge from the fog of illness this week, we will remember the experience ... maybe even a little bit fondly. None of us hopes to repeat the Quadruple Threat Flu of 2013, but we will recall the time together with less memory of the misery and more memory of the company. We will remember that we bucked up and rose to the occasion, even when we did not feel up to the challenge. We will think about the giving and less about the discomfort. None of us held a position of royalty, but served each other out of our best, the same as we would for someone of high position. We set aside our frailty to do for someone else in need.
I wish everyone a time of bonding like the one we had this past weekend. I suggest skipping the flu experience and find other ways to serve each other. Worth it. Totally.
Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. ~~Deuteronomy 15:10
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