B E B E R E

"Cosign for me on this one, Be. Just do it. You know I got your back tomorrow..." -that's what my cube neighbor Jeannette said to me yesterday after a particularly stressful morning. I laughed about it then, fully understanding that when she says it she means it.

This morning, I have absolutely no idea how I made it into work. Woke up with that odd combination of tightness in the chest, cold-sweat and queasiness in the stomach that means something really awful was going to happen. It did.

I don't really remember much from that point on, only that I made it to work somehow, that Ali at the Quickie Mart told me to go home and take better care of myself, and that after a week of rain and gloom, the sun finally decided to show a bit from between the clouds.

At work, Jeannette took one look at me, told me to tell folks I was going home and bundled me up into her car. No protests: she was absolutely right. On the way home I remember her talking about work a bit and the radio playing some old R & B. I liked that; the rhythm kept my mind off my tum and the headache over the horizon.

She saw me in the door, then left me. Once inside, I did exactly as she told me: drew a hot bath. (Put some wintergreen in it for the nice smell.) Lay in the tub for a bit, listening to an Enesco piano sonata and another for cello. Sipped a bit of the ginger ale.

Now - I'm warm, dry, comfortable. Sleepy. I'm going to rest now. I'm pretty sure that I'll feel better this afternoon; that this isn't what sidelined Hal for a couple days earlier in the week.

Thank heavens for friends who really do watch your back. I'd not have made it home if it weren't for one.