The Body

I'm sore.

This past weekend, I had Thanksgiving with my family, and then I was sore and sick.

I blame my friends and coworkers, personally. Everyone and their mom has been sick recently, and, per usual, I wasn't one to sit on the sidelines while everyone else seemed to be having so much fun.

It really isn't that bad. My ears are popping, and my nose needs to be blown every few minutes, and my eyes  will suddenly swell up as if I can't contain an emotion I wish I could truly hide.

My mother gave me a keen eye and said she wasn't surprised I had this. She said whenever I have a streak of stress, the long hours at work, it's straight after my body takes advantage of the time I have off to recoup. It was definitely the pattern I had in college.

It was amusing to me, as my number one thing to be thankful for this year is my body.

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely, positively am thankful for so much more. The wonderfulness that is my friends and relatives contribute to my happiness every day, and the constant adventure I've been taking upon myself has my heart filled with bliss.

But the past year and a half has gotten me to realize how much capability I really have. My body has given me so much more than I ever thought it could give. And I found something out about myself that I'd never thought I could do: run.

Never, in all of my life, would I ever think that I'd run. That I'd love to run. That I'd actually miss running.

And I've never felt more in tune with myself. It's like I found a void I didn't know existed until it was there. And not having it around made things worse.

Writing does that to me. Art. If I don't have enough of that on a daily dose, I can feel the imbalance within myself.

So, thank you, body, for bringing about a whole new me.