In Sickness and in Health...

So for the past week I have been getting over a pretty nasty cold.  It started out with a sore throat, followed by a simultaneously runny and blocked nose, and finished up with a nice cough.  It was miserable.  My head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton balls, every part of my body ached, and all I wanted to do was sleep and drink juice.  Brian was pretty awesome at taking care of me.  He would fetch me the box of Kleenex, tuck me in while we sat on the couch watching TV, took care of the dogs so I didn't have to, etc.  We both knew that he was next.

I just prayed that he wouldn't get sick before I got better, or we'd both be out of commission at the same time.  And sure enough, the day that I woke up feeling much better, Brian started to complain about a sore throat.  Being married puts an interesting spin on being sick.  You know that when one of you catches something, the other is almost certainly not far behind.  Brian and I will watch each other for symptoms and estimates of how long a particular illness will last.  "Hmmm... You got sick on Sunday and were better by Thursday, so that means if I started to get sick on Wednesday, I should be better by next Sunday."

Of course, everyone's immune system is different.  On some rare occasions, only one of us will get sick.  Sometimes one of us will be sick for a couple of days while the other one is sick for over a week, but usually we can gauge our illnesses by the other's experience.

It is also very easy to see how my relationship with Brian is much deeper than any other relationship I have in our sickness.  When you share a bed, drinks, food, saliva, etc. with someone, you are pretty much opening yourself up for whatever "bugs" they might have.  I have shared living spaces with other people before (parents, sisters, college roommate), but being married is a whole different ballgame.  It also doesn't help that you are usually contagious before any symptoms show up.  But even after one of us is a sneezing ball of mucus, we still cuddle on the couch, kiss each other, share drinks, etc.  As the sick person, it feels very comforting and healing.  As the healthy person, it doesn't feel gross, it just feels like I'm doing something to help the person that I love.

Anyway, the point of this post is that this week has had me musing about one of the lines in our marriage vows: "in sickness and in health."  I know that the idea behind those words is for "big" illnesses, like cancer or Alzheimer's, but I think the little sicknesses are important too.  Hopefully, Brian and I will not ever have to contend with a "big" illness, and "little" illnesses are no picnic.  But it is these moments that make me realize how very lucky I am, how much I love Brian, and how much he loves me.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go blow my nose and drink some juice.