As the stomach churns...

**BTW, I just was tired from the long drive. Our gracious hostess was the one who got to experience the 24 hr bug. I still think it was the leftovers. :-)

Ah, vacation! You look forward to it for months, maybe even years, and then finally the moment arrives when you turn your dreams into reality! The euphoria of having all of your hard work and planning pay off into the promise of an idyllic getaway makes it all worthwhile as you unpack your belongings and settle in for the first round of activities.

And then the stomach lurches.

No. This can’t be happening! I don’t accept it. It’s just because the drive was long, the jet lag is kicking in, or the vitamins I just took aren’t settling well.

It’s a sad moment when the reality of the situation hits you, usually when the cool porcelain of the foreign toilet meets your lunch. Some people give it the amusing euphemism of “Traveler’s Tummy” or “Montezuma’s Revenge”, but no amount of magical thinking can take away the fact that your vacation has an uninvited guest – Mr. Bacteria and/or Ms. Virus.

We continued our tradition of spending the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve with our friends in Los Alamos, NM, confident that our families would be healthy this time around. I loaded up the car with all of the necessary vitamins, OTC remedies, and herbal supplements, all designed to keep our immune systems fully functional. In the past, we’ve battled the stomach flu, high fevers, mysterious headaches, and a wide variety of body aches. In fact, one year, our entire extended family took turns with the 104+ fevers and chills, just in time to sweat in the New Millenium. Quite the bonding experience, let me tell you!

Unfortunately, botulism just doesn’t care what you throw at it. It throws it all right back out, and then some.

None of this is the worst thing in the world, considering the poverty, famine, and life-threatening illnesses that pervade many areas of the world, but I began to notice a trend as I watched our hostess succumb to left-over sweet potatoes. Why does it always seem to happen when it’s vacation time?

Here’s my theory: we spend so much time gearing up for the event, we neglect our health. Then, when faced with an unfamiliar environment, our lowered immune system doesn’t have the resistance to fight off the bugs that are constantly surrounding us. Next thing you know, you’ve become one with the couch.

Which is probably the real reason behind it all… all your body wants is to relax. If you don’t listen to it when it asks you to slow down, it takes matters into its own hands (or digestive system), and helps you find that brick wall that makes you slow down. Taking it easy isn’t always an option, especially if you have a demanding job, small children, or even a home to take care of. Sometimes, the only thing left of you is just enough energy to go into serious repair mode.

I remember my college years (vaguely, as the years are now stretching into decades), and how trips home were filled with chicken noodle soup, hot toddies, and loads of naps. This was because I would have pushed my body to the absolute limit, maintaining a job, a social life, and studying for mid-terms and finals. Those semester breaks were necessary to recharge my battery. I don’t think that college students know what it’s like to NOT run on empty! Now that I’m a student of life, it’s not much different.

Sometimes, it’s not the guests who are ill. It’s the host. I’ve been in that role, too, and it’s almost worse than being sick in an unfamiliar environment. The thought that you might somehow be passing on the flu or some particularly virulent form of the common cold is abhorrent. Not to mention the scenario of having to see off an entire family of phlegm monsters as they hack and cough their way back to the airport, ready to begin the contagion anew.

Feeling under the weather definitely brings about an intimacy that is unrivaled, a true sense of who people are at their core. Some folks are great houseguests but lousy patients, while others are just as wonderful whether they are hacking or hiking.

If you can reframe your temporary ill health as yet another bonding experience, you will be allowing yourself to heal faster, since beating yourself up for being sick won’t help at all. Who knows? You might even discover some new techniques to aid your recovery!