Two shakes

Did I mention that I got my second COVID shot yesterday? Let me tell you, if you haven’t already heard, that the second Moderna shot is no joke. The shot itself didn’t hurt at all, and an hour afterward, I felt just fine. I continued with my work, and I got things done, until right around 5:30 PM, when I felt as though I’d been injected with a powerful sleeping serum. I went to bed at 9 PM, right in the middle of the hockey game, and I must have slept right through the bus running over me. When I woke up, I could not get out of bed. Eventually, I did get out of bed, but the fever, fatigue, and body aches were bad enough that I actually had to lean on something when I tried to stand up. 

I showered, got dressed, and got to work but I felt worse and not better as the day continued. I tapped out at 2:30, made my way to the couch and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon and early evening, drifting in and out of sleep. When I finally managed to drag myself off the couch to go to bed, I wondered if I really needed to brush my teeth and change into pajamas. “My clothes are comfortable enough to sleep in,” I thought, “and would it really be that big a deal if I skipped tooth brushing for one night? Are my teeth going to fall out?” I did finally brush my teeth, but it was hard. The toothbrush weighed 25 pounds. 26 with the toothpaste. 

No joke, I’m telling you. No joke. 

It's Saturday now, and I feel 80 percent better thanks in part to almost 12 hours in bed. I'm outside watching a baseball game. The temperature is cool and the breeze makes it almost chilly but the sunshine is lovely and we're outside, so we don't have to wear masks. Yes, I know that CDC guidance is no masks outdoors for fully vaccinated people and I’m not technically fully vaccinated because I just had the second shot two days ago. But we were sitting at least 15 feet away from the nearest other spectators, and I’m pretty sure that my immune system did the work of two weeks in one day yesterday. 

I came home from the game, and the house was empty. My husband and son were running errands, and my older son was at work, and the house felt messy to me. The house always feels messy to me. I looked around at the random things sitting on tables and counters, and the floors that needed to be vacuumed (in my mind) and the dryer that was full of clothes and the groceries that needed to be put away, and I took Sue Ann Nivens’ advice. I thought of my house as a clock. I started at midnight and I worked my way clockwise through 12 hours until the whole place was back in order. No one who saw the place before and after would really have noticed the difference, but I did. I do. And I was done in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. 

You kids aren't the only ones who love Betty White.
Here she is as Sue Ann Nivens, The Happy Homemaker,
in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, S4, E1, "The Lars Affair."

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Later, I went for a walk. It was May 1, May Day, Derby Day, and the kind of still and peaceful warm May afternoon when as soon as the lawnmowers quiet, you can hear a conversation from across the street. Not that I was listening. It’s Sunday now and I am back to normal. With a little effort, a house recovers from disorder and with a little rest, a human body recovers, too. It’s going to be another beautiful balmy May day. It’s time to get moving.