There were days when she couldn't lift her head off puffy pillow piles.

When she did, it took over two hours, sometimes three, to ready herself to leave.

Parking got to be so expensive downtown, driving to work emptied her purse long before pay day.

When she was able to drive, she was so tired by the time she got home, she'd fall asleep in her car, only to awake to the chirping of morning's first songbird.

She missed her life.

She couldn't lift her arms to brush her hair, so she cut it.

A twenty-minute bus ride accompanied by a seven block walk to the office became unbearable.

Lateness wasn't fashionable!  

Neither were flat pumps.

Florescent lighting ... her enemy.

The dishes couldn't wash themselves and she couldn't stand at the stove long enough to prepare meals without sinking to the floor.

Peanut butter and jelly became more than a treat.

The last time she tried to drag her exhausted body to church hoping to reach out to her pastor for encouragement, she got passed along and prayed for by a member who told her not to cry anymore. "Don't frown, just be happy!" Oh, those condescending song-words distressed her.

They were just enough invalidation to attack her already weakened spirit, so she stopped going. No one knew why and never called to see ask.

Friends fell away because she wasn't fun anymore.

The soul-mate-of-her-life replaced her as quickly as changing a light bulb.

One by one, her employers got sick of her, too.

Fatigue wasn't productive!

Her apartment became a precious sanctuary, and yet, she couldn't take care of it.

Somebody had the nerve to say she liked being sick. Another said she was just lazy and slow.

Her body learned, that when she'd wrap up in a blanket, it could sleep as long as it wanted to.

She missed her life.

Once she laid down for a mid-Friday morning nap, only to be awakened by her neighbors, the Breauxes, who hadn't seen her car move for a long time .. they were concerned...

...now it was a sunny, Sunday afternoon ... 3:00 ... she had slept for two days without waking.

She missed her life...

Too numb to care, she retreated back to bed, for it was the safest place to dream and not let anyone in.

Yet, the following morning she arose from a state of hibernation, looked up into the sky, and screamed, "Hey, God! I love my life!"

bjd