Vacation Day –> Sick Day
So, my vacation day yesterday ended up being a bust. I woke up with a bit of a headache (I kind of had a “stress” type headache Sunday afternoon, after the meet). I figured it was just from not sleeping well + all the activity + stress/ anxiety over the weekend. On Saturday morning, I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and never fell back to sleep (had to be to the pool at 6:30 a.m. anyway for set up, but still….was really hoping to sleep until 5:30 or so!! So that did not set me up well for the busy weekend….hmph.)
I wanted to go do some Christmas shopping errands, etc. yesterday…so I did head out, but I made it to exactly ONE store before my head turned into a full blown migraine style headache. It was also super sunny and bright out, which didn’t really seem to be helping matters. I called it quits, headed home, took some Ibuprofen and then basically spent the rest of the day resting/took a shower/ waiting for headache to go away.
It finally just suddenly lifted, completely, but, come on!! That’s not how I wanted to spend my one pre-Christmas vacation day. Last night it dawned on me- why not put in a sick day?! Duh. So I emailed my interim boss and explained, said I was going to use a sick day for yesterday and take an actual vacation day today instead. Since I work from home, I basically never take sick days. I mean, I have to feel pretty crappy to not be able to sit at my computer at home, you know?
Back when I worked in the hospital, I had a much lower tolerance for taking a sick day. Obviously, working with patients, you couldn’t easily work if ill, but it was also REALLY REALLY hard to run around the hospital floor for 12-13 hours if you didn’t feel 100%. Now, I bet I’ve only taken a couple total in the last 5 years. (Also helps a lot that the kids are older!! When you have little kids, the sick days add up quickly when they need to stay home.)
Sad News
Something else really shook me up the other day. I learned that a blog reader/ commenter named Lindsay died last week! She was young- I think only in her late 20’s or maybe around 30. (She had a blog years ago, but wasn’t currently active blogging herself.)
She’s not someone I knew in real life, but she holds a special place in my heart, because she was actually one of the very first “random people” to ever comment on my blog after I started it! I will always remember when her comment popped up on my phone in the WordPress app one Sunday night- I said to my husband, “Oh my gosh! Some random girl just commented on my blog!!! Eek!!” 🙂 It was exciting and I still feel gratitude toward her for being that additional encouraging push to keep blogging. She would often include a question for me in her comments, which always made me feel like she really cared about me and what I was writing.
I was connected to her on Instagram, and her parents logged in the other day to post the sad news that she had passed away, losing a very long (apparently public, according to her parents) battle with anorexia. I actually did not know that she was struggling with that. So sad. 😦
I know she had just built a brand new house last year! And loved spinning classes and had a whole cycle community she was part of. And she was also a very talented runner in her college days! She had commented on some of my posts about Asher trying cross country. She loved travel and said she was looking forward to following our (eventual) big trip to Europe (the one that got cancelled in 2020).
She hasn’t been around lately (I know she was a devoted Feedly reader, and unfortunately, my site has had very annoying ongoing issues connecting with Feedly, so when Feedly disconnects, I’d tend to lose her…), but she especially loved my travel posts.
I feel really bad, because she commented on a bunch of my Acadia National Park posts and had requested a special post (back in August) to outline my best travel planning tips!! She had listed several travel related questions for me to answer. I haven’t forgotten, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
LINDSAY- I’m sorry! I promise I will write that post, in your honor and memory. ❤️
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for connections made via blogging. Seeing the news of Lindsay’s death really put my “stressful” weekend in perspective. I had no idea what she was struggling with. She was so young.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Oh, dude. This makes me so sad to hear about Lindsay. I’ll be thinking about her and her family this week.
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What? Lindsay passed away? I know who you are taking about, she commented a lot on my blog too. Oh no. And I had no idea she was battling anorexia since she didn’t share that on her blog nor her comments. Indeed very sad news. Life is so fragile.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t feel well before Christmas and you did well filing for sick leave when you actually need one. Hope you feel better soon.
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Yes, same Lindsay that commented on yours often. 😔
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What a great tribute. I am sorry for your loss.
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Oh my gosh, that is so very sad. She has commented on my blog, too, and I think she lived in the Twin Cities area. How horrible. And so close to Christmas. There is never a good time to lose someone but it feels especially awful to lose someone around a holiday. Like Phil’s dad died 6 days after his birthday and my SIL’s dad died the day before her birthday. So those events become intertwined and you can’t think about one without the other – not that you ever really stop thinking about a lost loved one. But her poor parents. I think the worst thing would be to outlive your child.
But on a positive note, I am glad you took a vacation day and used that other day as a sick day! I have taken a lot of sick days unfortunately between my RA flares, sick kids, and then me being sick. I try to take as few as possible and have taken less while WFH. But I have back up coverage at work so it’s not a big deal to take a day off and my coworkers will usually push me to just take the day off.
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