A Sick Day

I was sick yesterday.  I don't know what happened, but I never slept the night before, I tossed and turned aching all over.  You know the feeling, when your bones are sore and even the touch of the blanket is too much. I did not have a fever, I just felt crappy.  So I stayed home from work and slept in.  I then lazed around the house and listened to all those strange weekday sounds that a working fool rarely hears.  The sound of the lawn mowers and garbage men.  The kids walking back from school in the early afternoon.  The strange quiet that seems to covers the house when there is no one but me home (except for a sleeping son and daughter).


Then came Azziza.  She vacuumed and sponged and did dishes loudly.  She is still rather afraid of me and so very politely asked if I could move downstairs while she cleaned, all the while apologizing for having left the food she was going to bring at home. She is certainly not the most petite or gentle soul around the house - one can certainly tell when she is cleaning.


To take my mind off my illness, bwo gave me a huge pile of tangled wool to unravel. This is one of my favorite chores, and if I ever had a "blackpetero's holiday camp" (ala Tommy) I would give people huge rolls of tangled wool to unknot. I think there is something incredibly therapeutic in making order out of tangled, chaotic balls of wool. You start with an inconceivable mess of thread and slowly but surely you end up with neat piles of rolled up wool. Each a unique ball.  I am really lucky that my wife is so good at generating this raw material for me.  I immediately felt better.