I went to a wedding on Friday and I had a choice. Either I could sit out and watch everyone dance or I could get up and dance and pay the consequences later. What was my choice? I chose to dance. When you are out on the dance floor, nothing matters. You feel the beat in your toes and the sweat dripping down your face. It was fabulous. While I was dancing, I had no aches that I noticed. I was smiling and moving. I really didn’t care about what was going to happen the next day. A woman came up to me as we were leaving and she said, “You can tell you love to dance. You can see it in your face and in your eyes!” Just that little conversation and I knew I had made the right choice. I DO love to dance and I was not about to let my disease rule me. There are so many other days it does.
Now, here I am the day after. As I placed one foot on the floor, followed by the other, I had to grab the posts on the bed to move. I held onto the posts as long as I could. Exiting the bedroom, my hands grabbed and held on to the wall. I call my walk the “Frankenstein” walk because that is what it is like. However, if any of you have seen the old Frankenstein movies from Universal Studios, Frankenstein, even when walking sooooo slow, is always able to catch up to his prey. Not this girl. She walks like Frankenstein all the while making those grunting noises. I tell people an autoimmune disease is like this, you have your cells only your cells don’t know they are fighting “good” cells. Your body is fighting your body, or how I put it, my cells are an army with weapons complete with cute little helmets. The poor unsuspecting “good” cells come along and my cells “open fire” on the good cells. Basically, I have a world war going on in my body between my cells. Sorry to say, there is never going to be a winner in this battle.
So begins the day with a cup of coffee and pain medication. That is the cocktail to try and deal with the pain. Do I regret what I did to my body last night? The answer is most definitely NO! I slow danced with my husband and busted a move with friends. Just for a little while, people like me want to just step out of their body that hates them, kick back and have fun. Some days, you just need to live in the moment because you never know when that moment will be taken away from you.
Till next time, laugh loudly and smile constantly.
AMEN! Glad you enjoyed yourself. Although we don't have the same issues, I'm right there with you... and like you, refuse to give in. Ya, we pay for it, but what's the alternative. Sitting on the sidelines? That's not in our nature! Love Ya!
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