Rather than leave you all hanging, I want to report that I’ve had decent (5 ½ hours) sleep for two of the last three nights. As of this writing on Friday, I feel like a human being again. I have three days of prednisone left and then I pray to God I’ll be done with this 19-day (and counting) ordeal.
After dropping the girls off at day camp, I even did some yardwork for about 45 minutes. Had lunch, took a nap, and finished reading a book. Considering all I’ve endured these past few weeks, I’d say that’s a near-perfect day.
Regardless of what tonight or the next few days bring, I’m enjoying this one to the nth degree!
So, nothing extra heavy in this week’s blog. In fact, I’m hoping you find the humor in it that I did, even in my sickness. Or maybe because of my sickness-induced delirium!
As I mentioned last week, one of the great joys of my sick days were several same-day deliveries by Amazon. I was able to get one of those fancy forehead thermometers when I wasn’t sure if I was running a fever or not – and my old-fashioned versions were completely unreliable.
On this particular day, I was expecting a delivery of some honey and some generic Unisom, for my cough and sleepless nights, respectively.
As most of you know, Amazon sends out notices when they receive your order, when it’s shipped, and when it’s out for delivery. My usual MO is that I glance at the email and double check the little timeline to see if anything is delayed.
For some reason, I never knew this next factoid I’m going to share with you. I’m guessing many (most?) of you did know this about Amazon tracking, but I was fascinated by it. And for those who, like me, were unaware, consider this your PSA!
What I realized is that the map in my email notification from Amazon showed a little cartoon truck on the far northeast area of Des Moines, with a little notation “5 more stops.”
WHAT???!!! How have I missed this crucial piece of information? So, I looked at the map for a moment and was even more shocked to realize that the little truck was actually moving on the map of the Des Moines area!
If this is news to you, welcome to my astonishment. If you’ve known this forever, feel free to roll your eyes at me.
So, in the midst of my sickness and pain, in the midst of my likely delirium, I felt compelled to keep an eye on my delivery.
For you locals, it looked like it was coming from the Bondurant Amazon warehouse location. I followed my little truck down I-80/35 to I-235 west through the heart of Des Moines. Nope, no stops yet – still 5 more stops.
I assumed it was headed directly to my neighborhood. How exciting!
Sure enough, my little Amazon driver (who shall remain nameless for privacy protection) steered his little truck north on I-80/35 and took the Hickman exit towards my neighborhood.
I could barely contain my anticipation!
I saw the little icon turn onto a street just before mine, so I knew the delivery was getting closer.
Because the map is small, I had to chuckle at what appeared to be several 180-degree-turns without any forward progress as the driver negotiated some of those back streets.
I was now down to only 2 more stops!
Imagine my shock when I heard my ring camera announce the Amazon delivery. How can that be? There were two more stops!
I almost wanted to run out and catch my little driver so I could introduce myself to him – and maybe thank him for his faithful delivery. Lucky for him, he had already escaped.
Here’s the kicker – I spent a full 25 minutes sitting on my bed and watching this little truck on my iPhone slowly making its way across the Des Moines metro area.
Does this scream boredom to you? Does it remove any doubt that I was sick and likely delirious?
Honestly, I don’t care. All I know is that I was fully entertained and grateful for this 25-minute diversion, and the humor it brought to my day. Who are we kidding? It was the highlight of my day!
I could wax philosophical and say the truck was a symbol of the caregiving I so desperately needed. I could superimpose any number of emotional analogies to this event.
But I’m going to just enjoy it for what it was – a delightful, humorous bright spot in a slew of days that were anything but.
I hope it brought a chuckle to your heart as well.
“He restoreth my soul…”
Psalm 23:3
Funny. Did not know.