The Gift of Choice: Between Rain and Cold Sores

S

Feelings.
The whole slug of them: The juicy, the stinky, sometimes tasteless, never boring, often challenging divine mixture that makes for an adventurous thing called life.
And when they are stirred, whether to the boiling point or to a slow simmer with the sometimes unexplainable, never ordinary, often contrary divine mixture of day to day living: One's heart, soul, and mind have the incredible opportunity to make a choice and be the better.

Choice is a gift.

——————
Last night we came home far too late, we were at a friend's house for dinner. This morning I jumped out of bed far too early, I quickly got dressed, kissed French Husband on the side of his mouth (The side without the cold sore, the first cold sore he has ever had.) before heading out to the brocante. Once outside I stopped in my tracks, it was raining. The nearby brocante was canceled. I went back home.
"I know I am not supposed to complain about the weather," I said as I walked into the bedroom where French Husband was sleeping, "but honestly does it have to rain on Sunday, it can rain on any other day of the week!"
French Husband rolled over and said, "Come back to bed."
I would have jumped back into bed but that cold sore not stared me down. 

Choice, when one's passions are not available, one is lead to seeking other options… I slept fully dressed, arms folded across my chest, on the sofa and woke up with a stiff neck.



Comments

32 responses to “The Gift of Choice: Between Rain and Cold Sores”

  1. Ah, Dear Corey,
    Take care of yourself. Go draw a warm scented bath, pour a glass of wine and wallow in steam. Then call FH to scrub your back!

  2. Lieselotte

    Poor Yann, I know what he feels like with his cold sore, I got one recently on the tip of my nose, and it lasted for almost two weeks. Corey, you are not going to sleep on the sofa for the next two weeks, are you ? To get a stiff neck and maybe a sore back ? LOL

  3. So, was your choice that you took your coat off before falling asleep on the couch? tee hee Only a little midwestern humor, where weather is always altering the best of choices.
    Here’s to seriously wishing for better days ahead to you and yours.

  4. aaahhhh….
    but Life
    did give you
    this good posting
    so all was not Lost.
    🙂
    … a gift to us
    from you ♥

  5. lol TICA – weighing the choices; cold sore, stiff neck, cold sore, stiff neck… if you could choose over, which would you pick?

  6. When I grow up, I want to be able to write like you……beautiful! Would you please write a book already!!!

  7. Ellen Cassilly

    I second the hot bath idea. I had one last night. It was wonderful. E

  8. Julie Ann

    Make sure you use a separate towel also ! Poor Yann, poor Coco ! xx

  9. Oh dear. I don’t blame you one bit. I missed an auction yesterday. I REALLY wanted to go but a few things deterred me and I think I kind of pouted all day. New day now but my arms are still folded.

  10. Susana Stevens

    This must mean you’re due for a great evening!

  11. I wanted to come this morning but I had to take care of Marine, by my own so …
    Lucky me I didn’t drive to St Z… and then see the sign ” cancelled” , I would have been very mad.
    Take care of yourself

  12. I think you should write a book also. 🙂

  13. Oh Corey, our soulish predisposition to focus on self, self, self!! But you nailed it in CHOICE – choosing short-term emotional ‘satisfaction’ or long-term ‘stiff neck’!!!
    Btw, L-Lysine tablets (if available in France) is a wonder supplement for coldsores -it’s an amino acid that stops them in their tracks. Tell FH 2 x 500mg in morning and 2 x 500mg in evening. On to sunny days….

  14. Love your thoughts and understand your choices! Sundays can be touchy, can’t they? It shouldn’t be so, but it is. Activities must be chosen carefully, and when the plans don’t work out it’s almost paralyzing. I lived in Aix for one year, the MOST AMAZING year ever, and even there Sundays could be a major drag. And not just for me; even my friends were lost and listless on Sundays. Of course, I have to admit that the looming Monday has a lot to do with ruining Sundays. I like Fridays best of all. Fridays are full of promise.

  15. Corey, I love your writing and your photographs and have fallen in love with this photograph!! I have emailed you a question about it 🙂

  16. Stiff neck and sleeping on the couch. I hope the cold sore is better soon.

  17. Ah, I can relate today! It rained off and on yesterday and today we are in for a repeat. Why can’t it just rain at night?? So, today I am staying away from the flea markets, attending to laundry. Ugh! “The sun will come out tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow” says Little Orphan Annie 😉

  18. Lol!

  19. Love your oh so witty post today, dear Corey, but I’m sorry that it required both yours and Yann’s discomfort to produce it.
    I’ve never had a cold sore, but recently thought one may be developing. After a web search I read to put peroxide on the spot. In a couple of days the area was dried up and peeling.
    Such an interesting picture today. I’ll bet it’s cold when the wind whips through those buildings. I once was in a similar configuration of buildings in Germany on a cold, wet and windy day and with practically every other step my umbrella would invert and I’d just about get knocked over. To make matters worse I was carrying a brown paper bag of groceries. I don’t know what I’d have done if it had fallen apart.
    Hoping you both feel better! I imagine that by now you’ve made lemonade out of your lemons.

  20. Dinah Soar

    The best cold sore prescription is this: Denavir 1% cream. Here in the U.S. a doctor must prescribe it. It must be applied at the first sign of a cold sore. It will stop it dead. Nothing else I have seen works like this stuff. If you can get some, keep it on hand so that the next time it can be used immediately. Without Denavir a cold sore will take 2 weeks to go away. With Denavir applied immediately, it is no longer visible after the first day or two.

  21. L-Lysine.. that is what is fantastic for coldsores.. not sure if it is available in France. I get mine from the health food shop.
    stiff neck? take yourself to a day spa and be pampered with a massage
    [I am going through menopause.. that is just about as bad as cold sore 🙂 ]

  22. I don’t think I would have even kissed FH on the good side of his mouth! – those coldsore germs can jump!
    A nice handshake is probably a better option.

  23. I think a cold sore means he kissed a frog! I think you should go home for a visit and stop in Massachusetts on the way!:)
    jackie
    bliss farm antiques

  24. What’s even worse is when you are selling at said flea market..Load up the car the day before, no sleep at all because of nerves, getting up at 4am, going to the venue,setting up all that stuff…rain begins..The worst!!! Every little bit of paper, prints,clothing near to being ruined..all that work for naught..big bummer..I don’t sell at flea markets anymore..this old gal can’t take it..

  25. jend’isère

    Celebrate our choices, we are lucky enough to have. Many women are not able to make choices on this International Women’s Day.

  26. Here is often sunny over the week, and most of the time cold and rainy on the weekends too…..in those days I usually take are of myself…long baths, cream, coffee, books and old movies…..

  27. I’d have been mad at the weather too! Poor hubby, I get them too. You can buy L-Lysine over the counter. It’s an amino acid that short circuits the virus. Take 1000 mg 3-4 times a day and it will go away, or not even come at all.

  28. does FH know you told everyone about his cold sore?? haha

  29. Marie-Noëlle

    I wish I had a camera THERE focusing onto the sofa !!!ah-ah !!!

  30. I took high dosages of L-Lysine for some time, as recommended from the health food store, and it didn’t seem to make any difference. I was still plagued with cold sores — sometimes three at once. I got a prescription ointment I’d heard does wonders; made no difference. I put an ice cube on the spot as the cold sore began; sometimes that stopped it, sometimes it didn’t. I took Bell’s homeopathic preventive against cold sores — twice — and also eat one orange each day (on the advice of a ghost) and replaced milk on my breakfast granola with buttermilk, which is supposed to be a preventive. Down to one cold sore per year, for the past one-and-one-half years. That’s better than three at a time, every couple months, which was happening for a couple years. Cold sores suck. But my sweetie will still kiss me (carefully; still he’s never had one) when I’ve got one. I think he might be a prince. A pharmacist told me she has noticed that people who are out in the sun a lot get cold sores; farmers, fishermen, etc. So use sunscreen. May FH never get another! They do suck the big one.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *