As a mom, I never seem to get a break from being “on-duty.”   I just never slows down here at this place.  People say, “I bet you love your weekends without your kids.  What a great time to relax.”  Ummmm, no.  That isn’t how it happens.  On the weekends when the kids are gone, I do the laundry, clean the house, go grocery shopping, do the cooking (I do massive cooking sessions on Sundays when the kids are gone) and all of the other things that I used to be able to do, but can’t now because I never have the time.

I am not one to rest and relax and take it easy.  I can’t seem to sit and not fidget when I am home.  In fact, my friend whom I occasionally watch movies with won’t watch them at my house anymore with me because I can’t relax and tend to fold laundry or do something else while we watch a movie, so we have had to move movie night to their house.

I stay up late and get things done and take advantage of any time that I don’t have the kids wide awake.  That quiet time at the end of the day is precious and I love to take advantage of it.  My friends and family get on my case telling me that I need to slow down and take it easy.  From my viewpoint, I don’t have that luxury.  As the only adult in the house, and the breadwinner, I have to keep going so that we can stay afloat.

However, this week, after a long time of not listening to those around me, life decided to take over.   Last Friday, I woke up not being able to move.   I called a co-worker and asked him to help me out with sub plans.  Thank heavens I have a great team that I work with.  I spent the weekend in bed.  Since the kids were in Moab with their dad, it made for a good opportunity to recoup.

Monday,  I used technology to the highest degree in my classroom. After being sick all weekend, I ventured back to work today, only to realize after 15 minutes that my voice was not going to last. We spent the day using Apple TV to broadcast my computer over the big screen. We did all of our lessons using whiteboard and Word. My class LOVED LOVED LOVED IT! They were SO quiet and So attentive and had to READ the entire day in order to get what was going on. They loved having to read directions off the big screen instead of listening to me (who can blame them.) They asked if we could do it the next day.

However, on the way home Monday, I realized that my chest was feeling tighter and that my voice was getting worse, and that it hurt to breathe.  I made my way over to the hospital, where they ended up diagnosing me with laryngitis, bronchitis and pneumonia.  Holy cow!  I knew I wasn’t feeling great, but that was a lot more intense than I had thought.  They gave me a breathing treatment, a course of steroids, and gave me a shot of antibiotics in my hiney.  That was by far the most painful shot I have ever had.  I went home with a prescription for the Z-Pak, a breathing inhaler, and pain meds to handle the lung pain.  I was told I couldn’t return to work for the week.   That would be great, but I am completely out of time off and now have money deducted from my check for every day that I miss.

By Wednesday, things hadn’t gotten any better so back to the hospital I went.  Another breathing treatment, another round of steroids and another shot of antibiotics (this time disabling my other “hip.”)   I got home to the kids and we ended up having an early to bed night.

Finally!  After having almost a full week in bed, and more antibiotics that I have ever had in my life, I feel like I am finally turning the corner.  I am no longer contagious, but apparently I am going to be in pain for the next month or so with the pleurisy of the lungs. I am planning on making it back to work next week so that I can work one week before I go off track for two weeks.

So, the lesson that I have learned in this… It is OK to slow down and calm it down.  If you don’t, life will do it for you!  Life sure has this week for me.  Life is so kind to make sure that I keep it my life to a slower pace, as my body is going to force me to slow down for a little while.  Maybe someday I will figure out how to NOT learn the hard way.