the Nonsense in Between

It has been 7 years since I last took an antibiotic. 7 years since I had a terrifying allergic reaction to an antibiotic I was not supposed to be allergic to. In those 7 years I have had illnesses come and go with only rest and fluids to catalyze my healing.

Since working with kids, my immune system has been tested and finally met its match. Nearly two weeks ago I caught a silly cold. I took a day off to rest and recover only to find this cold growing stronger. Still it was just a cold and I told myself it was passing.

Flashforward to Sunday morning when something foreign had invaded my body, a friend of the cold virus no doubt. Sinus Infection. The nastiest thing my body has dealt with in a long time. I should spare you the details, but I will say that Hollywood special effects have nothing on the alien slime that has invaded my sinus cavity.

I caved...

Appropriately titled, this film is a beacon of hope for people dealing with today's rampant unemployment. Having recently dealt with unemployment in our family, I can understand the palpable fear of losing income. Even today my heart races with the memory of the day Dominic discovered he'd be losing his job.

The first thing we did that night was pull out the calculator but the numbers just wouldn't crunch. As a teacher intern, my income barely put up a fight with all our bills. It was scary, and no matter how many times we ran the numbers we always came up red. Yet somehow, despite the ugly truth in the calculator's digital reading, we felt a tiny sense of hope.

It was certainly uncomfortable, at times, to let go of luxuries we had become so accustomed to - luxuries like pricey, cushy toilet paper. Re-evaluating our necessities taught us that we had more than we needed to survive and enough to live comfortably. Through the process we discovered that being a single income family was actually quite a blessing.

For now we are a dual income family again but it won't be for long. My internship is coming to an end this school year and I have to go jobless while I complete my student teaching this fall. This time I'm not tempted to consult a calculator because I already know the formula for balance.

We'll be making lemonade.