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Dear Reader,
Feeling a bit rattled from all of the holiday hoopla, I mentioned to my husband that I needed to find a way to get grounded, and he reminded me that my life seems to flow best when I'm spending time doing something for someone else. Thirty minutes later the phone rang.
"I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm really sick. Can you come over? Thank heavens you have a key, because I'm so sick I think I'd have to crawl to open the front door." Author Blaize Clement, a good friend of mine, was on the other end of the line.
Stomach pain, feeling hot and cold at the same time, nausea that comes and goes in huge waves, and enough overall pain that made Blaize wonder if she should dial 911 or me. My husband and I decided it sounded like the flu. We don't claim to be doctors, but we've had a lot of personal experience lately. It's been a rough couple of months for contracting numerous "bugs," because our grandchildren, who go to daycare, visit us three times a week. And as one book club reader recently commented, "I dearly love them, but grandchildren who attend daycare are like little typhoid Michaels and Marys."
My husband and I packed a doctor's bag for our soon to be patient: tissues with aloe, a thermometer, hand sanitizer, Sprite, Jello, popsicles, Dove Bars, Tylenol and most important, two hot water bottles. And for the two of us: books, a notebook, an iPod, and I even brought along one of my favorite cookbooks. I realized I wouldn't be cooking broccoli crepes for Blaize, but we might be there a while, and cooking would help pass the time.
"I wonder how long it took her to make the call?" my husband was sympathetic to the fact that most people, including himself, would wait until they felt death approaching any minute before they'd call a friend and ask for help.
But I'm so glad Blaize made the call. My husband was right. Lending a hand to someone was just what I needed to get me out of my funk. And when Blaize gets to feeling better, I'll explain all of this to her. I'll thank her for coming down with the flu--taking one for the team, so to speak--and for helping a friend (that's me) get grounded again.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
http://www.DearReader.com
P.S. Blaize has a new book, Raining Cat Sitters and Dogs coming out on January 19th. I spotted an Advanced Reading Copy on her kitchen table, and I'm giving that copy away to a reader today. It's even signed! I tried to get Blaize to sit up long enough for a photo, but there's only so much you can talk a bed-ridden delirious author into. To enter the book drawing, go to: http://tinyurl.com/yf2dsxv
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