Sick Days as a Wildebeest

Full disclosure to the world: I snore, quite loudly. Growing up, my sister and I had separate rooms across the hall from each other, and she would cry out of frustration because she couldn’t fall asleep due to my incredibly loud snoring. Over the years, I have grown accustomed to jokes poking fun at this perfectly-natural quirk of mine, while also accepting that it will continue unless I get surgery. And of course, it only gets worse after a night of partying or when I get the occasional head-cold.

Blessed with a job that allows me to work from home and have holidays off, I spent time in Kirkland, Washington visiting my family for Christmas, followed by a week in Phoenix to celebrate the New Year with friends and my boyfriend, Nathan. Just my luck…I managed to catch the cold my beloved sister had been carrying, right on time for my arrival in Phoenix for a weekend of fun. Running on less than two hours of sleep from the night before and exhausted from travel (those days are always hard!), I passed out immediately my first night in Phoenix and resumed my cold-induced, obnoxious snoring. Unfortunately, this left my light-sleeping boyfriend tossing and turning all night, while I slept soundly. When I woke up the next morning alone in bed, Nathan confessed he had slept on the couch and maybe slept a total of two and a half hours. He even moved to one of his roommate’s empty beds with the goal of better sleep, but he could still hear me through the wall! With my snores carrying down the hallway, his roommates heard and didn’t hesitate to comment on the “wildebeest” that must have replaced me over night. I felt horrible that he hadn’t been able to sleep (and slightly embarrassed), but understood that there was nothing I could do.

Snoring is just an unfortunate normal bodily function, after all!

The next few days I drowned in a bottle of cough syrup and plenty of Zicam, trying to cure myself so we could enjoy the weekend festivities with friends. Celebrating the end of 2017 and welcoming 2018 with Nathan and our friends was incredible (more on that later!), and it ended up being the best weekend! A few days of partying hard with my sickness essentially “on pause,” no doubt it was only a matter of time before it came back full-force. I spent the first couples days of 2018 slumped on the couch with Nathan, napping between episodes of “Parks and Rec” and “Shameless,” dreading the end of my precious vacation time.

One of the things I enjoy most about my relationship, is that every weekend Nathan and I spend together feels like it lasts forever. We always manage to make the most of our time, filling it with a healthy combination of relaxation and fun with friends and family, which makes the distance bearable. I had only been in Phoenix for five days and we were approaching our last night together before I would fly back to Chicago. Bundled up in my new pink pajama romper (a total impulse buy, thanks Amazon) and plenty of blankets, we crawled into bed and I immediately drifted off to sleep….only I had become so congested, that I kept waking myself up when I couldn’t breathe! My tossing and turning and incessant cough continued until Nathan woke me up with a glass of water and cherry-flavored cough drops (the only cherry-flavored thing I’ll ever willingly consume). He rubbed Vicks VapoRub on my chest as my heart melted over how incredibly sweet he was taking care of me!

We both managed to fall asleep a short time later, and I was so happy to wake up next to him the next morning. Later in the day I noticed the ear plugs on his nightstand and commented on them (“Yikes, my snoring was that bad again?! – I shouldn’t be so surprised…). Nathan replied with yes, but that of course he wasn’t going to let it stop us from falling asleep together my last night in town for the next four weeks. It’s a daily wonder of mine how I have ended up so incredibly lucky to have him.

All of this background and story, to say: find yo’self someone who puts up with your Chewbacca snores, just to hold you for another night, and who feeds you cough drops when you have a bad cold! Everyone deserves someone thoughtful and caring for the little moments like these, even on sick days.