Subtitle: Carpe Diem, You Betcha
Tell us about a time when you truly seized the day
It was too hard for me to write a letter to myself from the perspective of my two children, because they’re in their twenties. Maybe if they were younger, it would be easier to do. So I am substituting this alternative prompt today.
Ay carumba! It was going to be a very long day. My boss had given me the honor of taking her place at a two day training seminar. However it had been on short notice, and I decided to commute almost two hours each way for the two days rather than spend the night in unknown territory.
This was the second day. I felt all right in the early part of the day, but during one exercise we sat out in the sun playing Cranium. That heat beating took it’s toll, and despite popping a triptan, there was a level four Migraine taunting me.
I had to get through the remainder of the training and more of those dreaded group exercises – you know, you can’t just fade into the background with your pain, you actually have to participate! But when I faced the long drive back it wasn’t to home but to my non-profit’s annual board meeting banquet. I couldn’t back out of this one.
Not only were we expected to be part of these annual dinners, but a doctor I had nominated for an award had to send his wife in his place to accept it. I had met her briefly a couple times before. I was the only one at the banquet whom she knew, and I wasn’t about to let her flounder alone in a sea of unknown people.
So with this simmering migraine, I drove through windy country roads leading away from the seminar, through towns, then onto thick rush hour freeway traffic and into downtown Portland. I was so shaky and rattled by the long day thus far, that I called a bad audible and decided a glass of wine would settle me down. Afterall, there was lots of socializing to be done, and then plenty of small talk with my guest of honor. Nothing in the world would have been better than to seek out a dark quiet room and an ice pack, yet I had to muster up whatever reserves I had inside to carry out this evening for the sake of this guest.
The wine, of course, only threw the migraine from a level four to a seven. Back then, I didn’t know wine was a trigger because I could have it at times without repurcussions. It wasn’t very smart to drink it with a migraine already in progress, but lesson learned.
I made it through that banquet, and no one knew I was suffering as badly as I was. I had managed to pull off the whole day despite the war going on inside my head. Most importantly, I’d made the doctor’s wife feel comfortable in a big room full of strangers. Looking back, I don’t know how I seized that day, but sometimes we can amaze ourselves even in the worst of circumstances.
Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation
The Blogger’s Challenge is initiated by http://www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com
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