So I come home last Monday to a sunny and beautiful America. Fighting jet lag and all for about a week, I was having a grand of a time catching up with my family, my friends, and other peers I haven't seen in a year. Home is where the fun's at.
Then came Sunday...
A visit to grandma's...it was all good. My father, brother, and I chit-chatted with my grand-rents for a few hours and we head out to go home. Cough* Just one cough.
On the way back, two coughs. Still feeling fine. The more we get nearer to my house, I produce a few more coughs. I thought it was just seasonal allergies, or re-entry culture shock syndrome.
"Mark's coming down with something..." commented my father.
Despite the few times I have been sick in Korea, where, with the potent combination of healthy Korean soups and Korean medicines, I have been able to recover pretty fast, I felt like I was pretty immune to most communicable diseases by now.
Not this time. I came home at the perfect time: America is suffering from one of its more worse flu epidemics in a while. Before I even came back home, my mother and father suffered a horrible bout of the flu, putting them out for a combined 30 days. My sister-in-law also caught the flu, and so did her mother. My brother is on the run to not catch it. My friend Fawn's father is out with the flu. On the news, some schools had to even cancel wholesale classes because kids were out with the dreaded disease (something that would never happen in South Korea).
I succumbed. Its awful.
Monday morning, I woke up to a temperature that was near the Phoenix Suns' team scoring average (if you don't NBA stats, tis okay). When you have a fever, your brain simply cannot rest. So I woke up Monday with the sweats, chills, and your mind feels like it cannot rest while you try to sleep.
My body ached, at the same time I was tired, I was hot, and my whole body feels like you've been paralyzed by fatigue. Its scary sick. Basically, you're immobile. My parents, who thank goodness recovered by the time I got home (so we can say they are immune), know my pain and attended to my every need. All I could do was just sit and rest. This started Monday.
So all throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, I was out. Yet at the same time it was not like I was missing too much action. While I am here on vacation, everyone else I know is not. My brother is a working man (his wife is out sick), my parents had to go to work, my friends have school, other friends are working full-time, so for me, it was good for me to sit out. Ever since I got back from Korea, I've been straight doing things with my friends that I haven't been able to sit. Its not fun one lick to have the flu...its miserable. Yet I believe the Lord allow me to be infected so I can reflect and endure. You can learn a lot when you are physically sick.
For some reason, I do recall times when I really, REALLY sick. They are moments of total stoppage as they really impact the rhythm of your life. The last time where I was knocked out, where I had no contact with anyone except my parents due to my home isolation/quarantine and due to a vicious bout of the flu was in Spring 2006. I was swamped with homework and readings for my university study, but I came down with a bad run with that darn virus. That whole weekend, I simply watched movies and college basketball. I was miserable, but I just rested. Yet it was fun...
By Sunday, I was feeling the healing. God was slowly rehabilitating me, and I could feel it. The human body that He created is very resilient and built to endure. One of the most ironic things about that experience was that it ended up being one of the most fun weekends I ever had...simply because I had the opportunity to drop all of my responsibility plates and just rest. I watched some really great college basketball games that weekend (all the conference tournaments were going on...and tickets to be punched for March Madness).
This time around, I felt a little disappointed to come down with this thing. My time here for my home stay has been very limited to just 13 days, and coming down with the fluzy was the last thing on my agenda. However again, I waited patiently as the Lord just let me crash. I got a full year ahead of me starting March 3rd, a whole new school, a whole new job, and a whole new neighborhood to get acclimated to.
Yet one verse got me through these past few days: 2 Corinthians 4:16 - "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are renewed day by day." My body feels the pain, but my spirit is slowly coming back for a fresh start.
Hopefully by tomorrow my body can come back and go outside for a change. Don't want to rush it. Like I said before, my whole goal for this two week break is not to feel regret when I leave, but be recharged and spiritually get ready to go to meet the challenges that are ahead of me.
In the meanwhile, I have not watched so many NBA games in a long, long time...and its awesome. And on hi-def...its like I was at the game myself.
#20 - Marky
No comments:
Post a Comment