Fanning the Flames

Maybe I look like I’m holding my breath a lot, but people often remind me to BREATHE amid all the stress that continues unabated, going on 15 months now. I guess that’s why I noticed that Lilly and I got into bellows-like rhythm last week and pretended we were breathing relaxation into both of us.

I did (somewhat successfully) take last week “off,” meaning that I didn’t do interviews or write. I didn’t attend any meetings or make any plans. I did have to field some phone calls and some email, but … for the most part, I tried to relax and let my beleaguered body battle these almost-winter germs that have set up camp in my lungs et al.

That wasn’t the original plan, of course. I had hoped to have lots of fun and do lots of things, but germs sunk that battleship.

My tune-out-the-world strategy included reading several books, literally thousands and thousands of pages.

(Don’t be too impressed. Among other things, I finally broke down and read the Twilight series to see what the fuss was all about. I found them quite entertaining, but I suspect copious amounts of cough syrup helped. If you’re a fan, I’ll share that I’m staunchly Team Edward.)

Anyway, I read … a lot.

Curled up in our best reading chair. Nestled in the warmest room in the house. I read, and read, and read in hopes that sitting still and not worrying would help my tired old bod battle back these germs.

Lilly — my active, brilliant girl — was at a loss much of the time, but she adjusted to my weird new daily schedule and became my loyal cuddlebug.

One day, she climbed into my lap, wiggled under my blanket popover. It made holding the book a bit tough, but there is NO way I’d turn down such an expression of love and support.

Even when Lilly sleeps, she tends to take two breaths for every one I take (if I’m controlling my breathing for relaxation purposes) . BUT, because her breath pattern seemed important that given day, I matched my pace to hers, but I alternated.

She took a breath. I took a breath, and so on.

We kept it up for more than an hour, just relaxing together, entirely in sync. It felt a bit like we made some sort of human-dog bellows. I imagined that together we fanned the flames of all good things — health, strength, ease, love.

I’m pretty sure it affected Lilly too because a couple days later when it was warm enough to bundle up and sit outside in the sun (protected from the wind) Lilly did everything she could to be as close to me as possible.

In fact, once when she got stuck inside after following Tom around for a while, I found her sound asleep … just inside the door. I was on one side. She was on the other.

So many times, all I need is Lilly by my side. It’s nice to know she feels the same way, at least once in a while.