Burning the Candle at Both Ends

My mother’s favourite phrase when I was a teen was, "Stop burning the candle at both ends." Ironically, I had no idea what she was talking about.  Literally…I did not know what the idiom meant.

Now, as a mature adult, not only am I fully aware of the concept of burning the candle at both ends, I am suffering from its effects right now.

I have the mother of all colds.  The kind only mothers get when they are so busy, over-committed and run-down and don’t have a moment to spare. I have been barely able to get out of bed. At this moment, I am surrounded by kleenex, vitamin C and I have the ultimate illness indulgence going on in the background…the requisite cheesy old movie, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.

Everything hurts from my toes to the ends of my hair.  I am desperately trying to flood this cold out of me, because as every mom knows, you are only allowed to be sick for 24 hours…if you’re lucky.

A family can’t cope with much more than that. Not only does it remind them that mommy is human, mommy being sick knocks out the nerve centre of the family and slowly everything begins to fall apart. Dishes pile up around the sink. Take out containers begin to overflow the recycle bins and laundry piles higher than the washing machine.

So in an effort to re-light my candle, I’m going to hook up some intravenous Nyquil and go back to bed.

Sorry there are no pictures this time, this is just not a pretty sight!