That's the Breaks

I have a cold sore. It's reached the healing stage, which means it's a bright red spot on my upper lip. It's impossible to miss. I imagine that the astonauts in the Mir Space Station are charting its progress. "Da, it's shrinking, finally." I hate cold sores. I hate them for many reasons. First, it's impossible to hide a cold sore. My friends suggested that I teach in a burka. I actually considered it. I also considered a beekeeper's helmut. Finally, I decided that my students might just stay awake if they were distracted by the second lip sprouting under my nose. Second, cold sores make laughing painful. Contrary to my prickly exterior, I like to laugh. I don't like re-opening a wound every time I laugh. Pisses me off.

And finally, no matter what you do, no matter what you try, a cold sore never quickly goes away. No, it has to cycle through all of the really uncomfortable stages before it finally sings its swan song and disappears. My friend gave me some high-powered, prescription medicine and it seems to be working, but not fast enough. At least I'm on Spring Break this week, so I don't have to hide in the shadows, warning people to "stay away, I'm hideous!" Hopefully, this affliction will be gone by the time I face my students in 8 days.

Eight glorious days. One day more than a week. Yesterday was my first official day of Break and I spent the entire afternoon on the couch, in a coma. A three-hour coma. It was heaven. Then, I slept 9 hours last night. Today, I've actually felt the stress leaving my bones. I have work I need to to over break, but it's not immediately necessary for my current classes. I plan to eat good food, drink good wine, eat good ice cream, and work at a reasonable pace. And, I plan to watch movies. I know this break will be over way too soon, but I'm trying not to think about that. Eight days. Eight whole days.