Warning!

Don't you hate it when you KNOW not to do something but you do it anyway?! I'm not talking about the four-alarm kind of warnings with lights flashing and sirens blaring - we all at least slow down for those. No, this is the more frequent one-alarm kind of warning with only a little whisper in our sub-conscious that calmly suggests, "This may not be such a good idea. Better gather some more information before you do this." (Notice not even one exclamation mark is needed to punctuate these subtle thoughts.)

Well, I DO know better and I did it anyway!

(Hopefully I've caught your attention now. Mr. Calbert, senior English, would be pleased.) Oh, you really want to know what the foolish deed was?

Before I tell you, it's important that you know this - I don't do well with medicines of almost any sort. Two extra strength Tylenol can knock me out for twelve hours and that is no exaggeration; just ask any of my family. You should see me on a full dose of Nyquil; it's pretty funny stuff!

Yesterday I spent the entire day hurting pretty badly from lots of muscle tension. (Can't imagine what THAT was from. Smile.) And by the time we got home I was already hoping it was time to go to bed. Frank and I ate a bite of dinner, did a couple of chore-type things and started moving toward that highly anticipated hour of bedtime; at least I was sure looking forward to it. Every part of my body seemed to be aching.

Suddenly I had a brilliant idea! (Now an exclamation point is needed.) What if I were to take one of those generic muscle relaxers the dentist had given to him for pain on Tuesday? It seemed to work quite well for Frank that evening; he slept like a baby. He talked of feeling relaxed, worry-free, euphoric if you will. (Okay, so now I'm exaggerating; you could tell couldn't you?)

Frank and I discussed it briefly and the decision was made. The pill looked rather large but I wanted to sleep like a baby; be relaxed; euphoric. So I took it. The whole pill. Usually I would pause and consider breaking it in half because I am well acquainted with my history of medicinal response. But not this time, Buddy. I threw caution to the wind and took that whole pill, popped it in my mouth without restraint, chased it with half a glass of water and (at Frank's urging) a slice of bread.

I was asleep before the normal person could count to ten and did indeed sleep deeply.

But when I woke up this morning - whoa, Nellie!

Every time I tried to focus my eyes, it seemed the room was swimming. I fumbled around on the nightstand and finally located my glasses but getting my feet into bedroom slippers seemed an impossible task! The distance from our bed to the bathroom has never been farther. This was made more difficult by the fact that I was traveling in a definite zigzag pattern! (Never mind the concentration it took to make certain I was centered on the all-important seat in that room. Smile.)

I made it in to the living room, sat down on the love seat and promptly fell over sideways. When I was finally able to open my eyes, I was startled to discover that we now have two front doors. (You can't make this stuff up!)

Fortunately, today is our "no office time" day so Frank is here with me. Gracie hasn't left my side since I stumbled out of the bathroom. Dogs know when their masters are in trouble. She keeps looking up at me with that little Elvis lip as if to say, "Are you drunk?!"

It's been almost fourteen hours now since I ignored that little internal whisper. Hopefully I'll be back to normal soon. If I've written anything embarrassing today, please be kind and just erase it. I'll be happy to return the favor for you some day! And rest assured - I will NOT be taking anything stronger than Aleve for muscle pain any time soon!!!