I Feel Like Hell — But It’s Really Not Obama’s Fault

So I’m not going to pussy foot around — I feel like total crap.

I should feel great. Obama won a second term. The Supreme Court won’t get loaded with crazy right-wingers who think women were cursed by god in the Garden of Eden to bear children until they hit menopause or their uteruses fall out (whichever comes first). The American people saw through the whole “We rich guys want to help you become just like us, not keep you in the trenches like serfs” malarkey. And Fox watchers — who truly had no idea this was coming — may actually take this whole experience like an icy glass of water to the face, snap out of their zombie-like viewing habits, and start searching for information elsewhere.

 

 

Okay, maybe not that last one, but a girl can dream…

Anyway, like I was saying, I feel like crap. Some of you guys know that I’ve had chronic pain (fibromyalgia and atypical facial pain) for almost two decades. Right now, I’m dead tired and having terrible headaches, possibly from this stupid dental work I’ve been dealing with for three whole years that actually makes it impossible for me to bite down on my back teeth (sorry, not “stupid” — make that “poor choice of treatment options” — I always tell the kids to find a better description). That’s right. If you join me for a meal, expect to watch me eat like a rabbit.

It could also be due to exhaustion caused by driving myself too hard during the campaign. Funny thing is, I barely worked at all compared to 2008. But I also didn’t walk onto the job in ’08 after freshly losing my cousin in a tragic accident either. So there’s that.

And it could be post-campaign depression (happens to me every time). Campaigns are strange animals. You pour your heart and soul into them. You sacrifice ridiculous amounts of time and energy. You neglect your kids, husband, dog, friends, house, laundry, personal hygiene, and anything else that can function on its own short-term. And then suddenly, poof, the demands on your time are over.

And it really does just go “poof.” I stopped in at the office on Thursday — just two days after the election — and the place was a shell of its former self. The friend I was hoping to catch had already started his long drive home.

Anyway, it’s just been a rough couple of days. This may sound strange, but pretending to be fine on Facebook has been helpful. And having one of my best friends and her kids over today was an excellent distraction. Because what I’d really love to do most of the time is take a nice bolus of pain meds and crawl into bed.

Unfortunately, I can no longer neglect the kids. Or the dog. I’m afraid the husband is working, which stinks because otherwise I could actually do a decent amount of neglecting everybody else and leave them to him.

As long as I can keep everyone fed, the rest of it is just going to have to wait. I figure all the kids need is some clean underwear (and really, that’s optional at this point), and I should be able to get away without showering for at least another day as long as I don’t do any heavy exercise (and let’s not kid ourselves — when do I ever do heavy exercise).

And then we’ll cross our fingers. Maybe if I play it cool, this crappy feeling of mine will take a page out of the campaign manual and leave before I can say, “Poof!”

Too bad just like every annoying election cycle, it’s just crazy, wishful thinking to hope it won’t be back for another round.