Lady Pain

Okay, so I thought I was just having regular decrepit, aged pain, so I took some Tylenol. Didn't work. Still, I thought, this must just be really, really decrepit, aged pain, and I took MORE Tylenol. Guess what? Didn't work. Then I realized: Oshit! It was LADY PAIN! (Pardon me, non-spousal male reader(s).) And I had already more than wasted my painkiller quotient! If I had only known, I would have gone for the Ibuprofen! What's a girl to do?

Drink Chardonnay, of course. Luckily for me, and those closest to me, I had laid in a bottle of Toasted Head Chardonnay for my birthday (a week hence), and all I had to do was pop the cork. A glass and-a-half later, I am a bit tipsy, but feelin' no pain.

This experience made me realize/remember that I am SO grateful for ibuprofen and those who "fought" to make it and over-the-counter drug. I salute you, whoever the heck you are (were)! You see, before the advent of ibuprofen, I could only alleviate my Lady Pain with alcohol, and I didn't even figure *that* out until my late twenties--way too late. I was the woman whose eyes suddenly bugged out of her head during a work meeting and when asked, "What's wrong?" gasped, "Nothing, WHY do you ASK?" Aspirin? Bwhahahahaha! Tylenol? Don't GET me started! By the by, I'm not so much saluting the Chardonnay-ists, as I will feel this tomorrow.

I'm happy to add ibuprofen to my gratitude short list. I have, actually, tons to be grateful for, and I'm starting a class this week to learn to feel more gratitude. Before the ibuprofen realization, I was only deeply committed to my gratitude to the local trash collection service which now lets me mingle my trash and recyclables! I can't even express the joy that gives me. (And also, that time when GameGuy got the gum out of the dryer when it was totally my fault and my gum...) With me, it's the little things. Always the little things.

So, in my funky little Gusta way, I'm grateful. Also, a bit drunk.

P.S. Apologies to Impasta: "We'll always have the Burrito place..." Sometimes it *is* the hill of beans!

P.P.S. I'm reading "The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" (Michael Chabon) and it's the best book I've read since "The Corrections" (Jonathan Frantzen). GameGuy gets a big ol' "I told you so!" as he's been telling me to read it for eight years and I have been demurring because I'm always sure I'll hate things that people tell me I will love. Silly me.