When We’re At Our Weakest

It seems that diamonds aren't always a girl's best friend.  At least, not according to my wife.

Need a recharge?

Travel can invigorate the mind and stir the soul, but it also saps the body.  On our visit to Stan Lee’s Comikaze, we spent hours sitting in the car traveling there and back.  We mostly stood, or walked, in the convention hall.  We had planned to get lunch at a nearby restaurant.  Then we saw how long people were waiting in line to get back in. (I can only assume it had to do with the total allowable number of people inside the building).  As none of the food there appealed, we elected to eat the protein bars and snacks we had brought with us.  The second day we were exhausted, and left before noon so as to get home sooner.

The following weekend, we drove up to Oxnard, and used that as a base for exploring Ojai, Malibu Creek State Park, and Point Dume.  This involved more driving, more breathing in air conditioned and filtered air, more fast food, and much more walking than we’re used to.  While we enjoyed our second weekend away, all this took its toll on our bodies, minds, and spirits.  We had more trouble concentrating on our work, and did little more each evening than sit on the couch and watch TV.

For the most part, I was even too tired to read.

The following weekend, my wife was watering the plants out back when she tripped and fell.  I put ointment on her scratches, and bandaged her palm where the skin had torn free.  Through attending carefully to her palm each day, the wound began to heal.  But then last Friday, after she got to work, a sparkling diamond appeared in one of her eyes.  Gradually, this shimmering effect expanded across her eye, obscuring her vision.  She called me, and knowing how tired we were, and how tight our muscles had been, I recommended she take some Ibuprofen.  She did so, and closed her eyes for a while.  After about twenty minutes, the shimmering diamond expanded to the periphery of her vision and vanished.  

Thankfully, the doctor found nothing wrong with her eyes.  She had done her research by this point, and told him the phenomena most resembled a Scintillating scotoma.  He suggested that such flashing lights, or sparkles, usually preceded migraine headaches.  As we had been overdoing it of late, this made sense.  Nevertheless, the incident reminded us how fragile we all are.  This comes as no surprise, as travel seems to take it out of us more as we get older.  Nevertheless, like one of James Bond’s martinis, we were left shaken.

When we were both so tired, we abandoned our usual practice of massaging the other’s neck, back, and legs several times each week.  It was too easy to relax and do nothing.  Had I rubbed her muscles more, might she not have fallen?  Might her migraine attack have been avoided?  Alas, I can answer neither question conclusively. Still, these incidents remind me that when I am at my weakest, it is then that those closest to me may need my support the most. 

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links

Scintillating scotoma on Wikipedia