That was a phrase I repeated over and over last Thursday night. I couldn’t have planned a more inconvenient time for Tony to get oh so ill. He awoke Thursday morning with a sore throat and mildly achey all over. I encouraged him to go to the doctor since the flu is so quickly spreading right now. He assured me he would be fine and he did slightly improve throughout the day. However, by 4 pm, he was feeling quite terrible, and beginning at 6, he couldn’t stop throwing up. He was in the worst, lowest state I had ever seen him, and the sounds he was making were indescribable. And so I began… “In sickness and in health…” I will stand by my man.

During all of this, I was getting ready (doing laundry, packing, etc.) for our annual high school retreat. I was leaving at 7 am Friday morning to set up. When I had gotten home from my ballet classes at 8 on Thursday, I had asked if he wanted me to find a clinic to take him to. It took him until 10:30 pm to become desperate for something, anything, to take away the misery. By that time, all that was open was the emergency room. I will admit that there are times that I mock the germ-a-phobe in my husband, but on this particular evening in the ER, I’ve never been so terrified to touch anything or even breathe in the air that was being shared between myself and so many sickly people.

I think we were finally called back to our very special curtain-enclosed 6 x 10 ft area around 2 am. I silently repeated in my exhaustion… “In sickness and in health…” His flu test came back negative, but they put him on an iv due to dehydration and gave him some meds to ease the pain and calm his nausea. I tried to find comfort in my hard, straight-back chair, and was able to close my eyes for a while, but the crying, moans, interesting conversations, and cart wheeling remained constant and prohibited me from completely falling into my REM. The doctors released Tony around 4:30 am, and we headed home. I did sleep in a little… getting a good 1.5 hours of sleep before my weekend with high school students.

I couldn’t imagine missing the weekend with our students, but it was even more difficult to leave my invalid home alone. I knew there was nothing I could really do for him apart from getting liquids and making sure he could make it to the bed, recliner, bathroom, and back. Again remembering… “In sickness and in health…” I am very thankful that it was only a viral infection, and nothing more serious. I think my main concern was that I was unable to fulfill my wifely compassionate care-taking, and it merely came out as insensitivity and frustration.  I was again reminded not only of my vows, but also of my selfishness and that I am now on a jouney WITH a wonderful partner.  For rich or poor, in sickness and in health, when times seem just right, and when we couldn’t be more irritating to one another… we’re parners… walking this road together… hand in hand.  How thankful I am also of a God who not only commands me to love, but shows me how.