Sink or Swim

This was one of those days where if you make it out alive, you are highly likely to emerge with a ratty knapsack slung over your shoulder, heaped to the brim with the kind of life lessons you definitely didn't ask for and can only learn from a difficult day. It was most certainly a sink or swim type of day.

There were numerous times throughout the day when I felt myself sinking, sucked under by my uncooperative sickly body and way too much stress for one day. But the good news is, my loved ones really came through for me today. They even tossed out several life boats to me throughout the day. Here are a few of them for your enjoyment!

Life Boat No. 1, sent to me from my hubby:

This amazing comic nearly made me pee my pants with happiness. (Click for more awesomeness!)   

And then, there's Life Boat's No. 2 and 3, sent to me from my friend via text message several weeks ago, but due to a crazy cell phone mix-up, came through today two weeks too late, yet at exactly the right moment. Thank you, weird cell phone mix-up! These are titled WHAT WE DO WHEN WE ARE BORED AT WORK and the friend who sent these may or may not work at a certain (Unmentionable) Packing Store, which may or may not be what makes them so funny to me.

Pac Man/ Packing Peanut Man

ARRRRRR, Matey!

Life Boat No. 4:  Comfort food for dinner! Chicken with broccoli and General Tso's chicken. (Yeah, I'm adventurous.) What healthy Chinese food meal would be complete without fortune cookie time? Okay, so I actually can't stand the "cookies"; they taste like dog biscuits and I give them to my dog. But, here was my fortune: Your problem just became your stepping stone. Catch the moment.
Cheesy, just the way I like it. 


So, what did I learn today?
-My friends are awesome!
-If you eat too much comfort food, it's no longer comforting.
-I am loved!
-Sometimes, even cats have bad days.

Lyme Friends

For photo credit, click here

Over this past year, I have made some incredible friends, thanks to the internet. I always thought it was kind of creepy to make friends with people I didn't know through the internet, because I didn't want to end up on a Lifetime Movie. Well, Lyme disease has changed a lot of things, including my beliefs about making friends on the web!

When I started reading Lyme disease blogs, I found myself relating to story after story. These people could have been describing my life! I tentatively started commenting on blogs and then worked my way up to emailing my new friends and eventually finding them on Facebook.

As a result, I have made a group of Lyme friends who are the most amazing, awesome, inspiring, caring, considerate, tenacious, and funny friends that I could have ever dreamed of!  These friends have all been through hell and back from Lyme disease and they are as tough as they come! We are cheerleaders for each other--celebrating triumphs, crying for each other as we stumble, and helping each other find the strength to get back up. To have friends who truly understand how hard Lyme disease is has played a very important role in my recovery.

Now that I'm functioning at a much a higher level (I'd say currently around 75% of what I used to), it's strange being on this side of the fence, thinking of myself as the "healthy" one (I'm using that term pretty loosely) compared to many of my other Lyme friends. It's hard watching my beloved new friends backslide, and it's hard watching the brand new ones just starting their treatment. It's hard watching them fight for their lives, day after day. Now I have a glimpse of what it was like for my own friends and family to helplessly watch me stay sick day after day.

I am blessed to have these new friends in my life, and I look forward to meeting other many new friends along the way. I think it's so amazing that Lyme disease opened the doors to these amazing new friendships at a point in my life when it shut nearly every other door.