MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 4

Early New Year’s Eve

I’ve been there, done that – speaking of a tooth ache – nothing to be alarmed about. These were my thoughts early New Year’s Eve.

Eating supper with the family was an impossible task, especially the lettuce. Not only did the tooth hurt, it became excruciating when I brought my upper jaw down to bite on a mini taco. Even shifting all food to the right side of my mouth didn’t help at all. The tooth in the upper left jaw pounded for attention.

Since I’ve had plenty of experience with aching teeth, neither I nor my family was alarmed; sympathetic, but not overly concerned. My wife reminded me of a homeopathic remedy we relied on situations like this. I assured her I would take something later when I was ready for bed.

Still dressed with 2 layers of clothes and an outdoor jacket and a wool cap, I took a large piece of pumpkin pie; it was soft, delicious and very easy to chew. With it I drank a large cup of Lemon Zinger tea mixed with a heaping teaspoon of Blue Agave Nectar.

After clearing the table, my wife, son and daughter used the table for a board game, while I headed for the soft chair in the living room to explore the features of my new Kindle reader.
Later everyone came in the living room to get things ready for the movie. They selected a film called “The Help.” I’d not heard of this film, but when it started I loved what my wife and daughter chose.

[From Wikipedia: The Help is a 2011 comedy-drama film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name. The film is an ensemble piece about a young white woman, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids during Civil Rights era America in the early 1960s. Skeeter is a journalist who decides to write a controversial book from the point of view of the maids (known as the Help), exposing the racism they are faced with as they work for white families.]

I was very cold, even colder than I was at the supper table. My daughter got a heavy blanket and covered me. I liked what I saw of the movie and wanted to see it all; but I became increasingly uncomfortable and after about an hour decided to go to bed. It was only 10 o’clock on New Year’s Eve night.

Midnight New Year’s Eve

BOOM! The noise did not wake me, but it did startle me. I knew it was coming, but I suppose I had forgotten about the midnight fireworks from a nearby gambling casino.

I may have dozed off, but frankly do not remember. The tooth was bursting with pain, and now my head throbbed something awful, feeling as though a strong man was inside my head pounding my eyes with a sledge hammer. Where on my body did I not ache? Who sent a bulldozer into the room to run over me?

My wife and daughter were in another room, watching the fireworks from a bedroom window. The Casino is located on a high hill overlooking Prescott, and as the crow flies only a half mile from our home. The view of fireworks from our home is unobstructed and spectacular.

I crawled out of bed to see what they were viewing, and to wish them a Happy New Year. I stayed only a few minutes. I was extremely weak and nearly fell over. Everything about my body hurt to walk, from my toes to my head. My wife asked if I had been taking the remedies she gave to me. I had, but seemingly to no avail.

The storm was just beginning. When I returned to bed, the blankets and sheet were like a curtain call to a drama about to begin, the introduction to an evening of hell.
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To be continued