Something was burning. I awoke to find my arm starting to tingle and burn. The sun was slamming through the window and onto my arm beginning the process of a painful burn. Confused, I started to remember. I’m sure the pain helped things along in the memory process, but it wasn’t my arm. It was my abdomen, and the agony was horrific. I was sure any minute an alien was going to emerge.
So here I was sitting in the car in a Walgreens parking lot. The morning was hot and I just awoke from passing out due to pain. I had made a pilgrimage to Walgreens in search of pain relief. Who knows what I found, but I took three or four of them with some orange juice. Two minutes later I passed out due to the pain.
Cautiously driving my way home, I couldn’t believe how I found myself in this position. I was working 20 hour days between my real job and the company I was starting. Sure, I didn’t take good care of myself, but I was young. Nothing could touch me, except for the spears of pain poking through my stomach.
I made it home and into our waterbed. At the time it seemed like a good idea that waterbed. As time wore on, though, it became more of a nuisance. On this day, the day of pain, it was as if waves of adulating misery rolled over my body. The only relief I could get was to turn over, kneel on my knees and stretch my arms forward. I looked like a venerating monk, but there was some relief.
A few minutes, maybe an hour passed. My wife came in to check on me from time to time. She implored me to call a doctor, but being the man I was, I refused. She lovingly supplied wet wash clothes. I lovingly supplied groans of agony.
In my venerated monk position I could tell something was wrong. My stomach, which had been expanding like a balloon on a helium tank, started to move. I swear. It moved. My mouth got dry, I could feel saliva building and I knew. My stomach knew. My throat knew and soon the waterbed knew. I was puking. It came on so fast I had no time to react. My body took over and that was that.
Embarrassed would be an understatement, but things got worse quickly. My brain thought relieving the pressure was great, so it directed my colon to do the same. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s say the pressure valves were open at both ends.
I sat their sobbing as my wife walked in. In the blur of pressure relief I hadn’t had a chance to call her and this is what greeted her. A complete mess. At this point the pain in my stomach moved to my heart as my wife began to take care of me and the mess I left.
She reassured me, told me she loved me and in the most remarkable way made me feel as if what had just happened was a small incident at worst.
Commitment during the good times is an easy thing. Commitment when cleaning a water bed after nature calls twice at the same time is true love. My wife is completely committed to me, but more importantly our relationship. With that act of love, prostration and simple acceptance, she showed a lifetime commitment. For better or worse, in sickness and in health indeed.
Post script: I did, eventually, go to the hospital. It was found that I had a bleeding ulcer due to stress from work. The pain medication and orange juice I enjoyed multiple times a day didn’t help the situation.
Today’s gift: I thought long and hard about a gift that would signify the commitment of our marriage. The choice was important, as it needed to show the lifelong commitment we have to one another. I could think of nothing better than to plant a tree honoring our commitment. My wife will choose the tree, we’ll plant it together and ensure it’s growth. It’s a commitment on both of our parts and a living reminder of how committed our relationship has grown.