Love's Healing Powers.

When Clara had emerged from her mother's womb, Nana had cradled and washed her, and from that time on she had felt a desperate love for this fragile creature whose lungs were always full of phlegm, who was always on the verge of losing her breth and turning purple, and whom she had had to revive so many times with the warmth of her huge breasts because she knew that this was the only cure for asthma, much more effective than Dr. Cuevas's fortified syrups.
~ The House of Spirits by Isabelle Allende

Do you believe love has healing powers? (The quote is taken from my favorite book of all time. If I were to take a book with me to the grave, this would be the one.)

By the time Jason showed up on my doorstep yesterday morning, I was ready to topple over. My fever had lifted, I had enough energy to walk around, and I was finally eating, but the violent thrusts of a never-ending cough had kept me awake and desperate for 9 hours. Optimistic, he handed me a bag of McDonald's for breakfast, but I climbed back into bed with no intention of getting back up.

Never one to turn town sleep, he slid into bed without a word (after finishing his McGriddle, of course). As is his ritual, he coaxed me into his arms where I slid into the perfect sleeping crook - my head on the soft spot of his underarms, my belly lining his side, my arm across his chest.

We slept until dinner time without interruption, at which point he woke up and declared himself hungry. We rented "Deuce Bigalow: European Jigalow" and "Bad News Bears", ate linguini alfredo, and laughed at all the bad jokes until calling it a night at 11:30.

It wasn't until he left this morning that I realized how much better I felt when he was here. Emotionally, of course, but also physically. There's power in a kiss, in skin against skin, in a loving glance, in shared laughter, in peaceful slumber.

Makes me wonder...where was he the first FIVE days I was sick?!

(Just kidding, honey.)

P.S. Thanks to everyone's sympathy and well wishes. You kept me going when I wanted to keel over!