Today, I am Sick

It's been a very very long time since I can even remember being sick enough to say, I am sick. I rarely get "sick" at all, but even if I do have a headache, mildly sore throat, or any other kind of malady, I just suck it up and will it away. It's been literally years since I've taken a day off of work (or school) because I was sick. Now, I haven't taken any work off quite yet, and hopefully won't need to tomorrow, but I did allow myself to sleep all morning in stead of going to church. I know if I can do that and feel alright about it, I must really be sick. I find myself thinking today how colossal the list of things I don't suffer from/through really is, and how incredibly blessed I am. I think about my family members, and close friends, who deal with cumbersome health issues on a regular basis. Depression runs in my family. My mother and sister both suffer from thyroid malfunction and it's accompanying distresses. My little brother used to be congested basically 24/7, but luckily it's not quite so bad now. I can remember while I was in school watching the people around me in what seemed like cycles miss school due to illness. I, on the other hand, had to think up good reasons to miss school and plan those "sick days" based on what was going on in my classes so that I didn't miss anything too important. Haha:) I like to think that what I call my ironclad immune system came about due to my very particularly circumstantial childhood. First of all, my mother ran a daycare in our home for several years. I was always always always exposed to anything that was going around. Sometimes I got it, and sometimes I got it and never realized it because my body fought it off faster than it could catch on. Secondly, while I never once felt like we were lacking anything, or were poor in any way, I realize now that I may have been told repeatedly that getting sick was simply not allowed because we couldn't afford it. When I broke my leg as a five-year-old, the closest I got to the emergency room was the parking lot. Then I was driven back home and carried around for weeks so that my very capable body could heal all on its own. I don't mean this to sound tragic in any way. Quite the contrary. Our little(big) family was on the receiving end of many miracles. We struggled, as all families do, but we were healthy because getting sick was, simply, not allowed. Me being the stickler for rules that I am caught on to that concept seemingly subconsciously, the same way that Mom and Dad put it there without realizing it.
I am grateful for a mother who didn't coddle and baby her children as they grew, but who taught us to be strong and trust our magnificent bodies to do exactly what God designed them to do. I am grateful for a body that does not let me down, and that fights on the inside just as hard as I try to on the outside. I am grateful for ears, eyes, fingers and toes, that function to the capacity they were intended to. Today, though I am sick, I am grateful for my health.