What I Did For Love

I woke up this morning to pouring rain, stuffy head, ringing ears, a slight fever and body aches. And no one but me to open up the office and unlock the conference rooms.

Dammit.

Since nothing felt good against my skin, it would have to be a casual day. Or what passes for casual with me-- my softest boot-cut jeans, a silk polo and my favorite Ann Taylor jacket. No heels. No way. I sent my scout (er… husband) out into the rain and waited for his report. Once I heard the roads were passable, I made my way to work, did all the little things my vacationing assistant would normally do, then settled in to wrap up a few projects and address some new issues that had come up.

I felt okay at first. I had lots of cold symptoms, but they felt like they were all on the surface. Underneath the aches and annoyances I felt, if not great, at least okay. But by noon I was getting chilled, everything hurt and luckily we had finally, hopefully, gotten past a major impasse on a critical project.

I went home.

But now here's the tricky part. Tidbit was out of hay and it was supposed to be delivered that afternoon. I set my alarm and laid down for a nap. At 5:15, it was pouring rain. The hay was in the leasing office, which would be closing in fifteen minutes. Rain or no rain, I needed to go get it.

So I splashed my way down the flooded walkways, trying (and often failing) to find paths around the mud and puddles. My temp was back up and the rain hurt, holding the umbrella hurt, even my clothes hurt! And then I had to find a way to get the 18"x30" box back across the complex and up to the third floor while carrying my ginormous umbrella. Not so easy when I'm feeling good, but today? Everything that touched my skin was either too hot or too cold, and all of it felt like it was leaving bruises. The box felt like it weighed fifty pounds (it was 9 pounds), and the umbrella dug into my shoulder and caught on just about every small tree in the complex. My feet got wet, my cuffs were soaked, and I swear I've done speedwork that left me less winded than those stairs did today! But I finally got back home, feeling like I had achieved some great victory.

I opened up the new box of timothy hay to happy little bunny grunts and binkies.

Oh, yes. It was worth it.

Don't ever think I don't love you, Tidbit.