Less Sick

It's amazing to feel the resurgence of health after a miserable dip of illness. This time it was just a cold--or I should say is a cold, because it's there still. But yesterday was worse than today, which is good. The body somehow knows its enemy and fights back with antibodies, neutrophils, and macrophages--or whatever the multi-taxonomic legions of fighter cells and molecules are called. It's all crazily cool, and I am thankful. Being sick makes the body ache, rasp, gag, and swoon; almost inevitably, emotions tank, too. Plus sometimes you get an irrational sense that the state of illness is permanent. But after you hit bottom and the upswing begins, life is pretty chill again. The pleasures of music, food, and company seem richer than you remember them. In college, I studied biology and so I know about codons, transcription, and protein folding, but when it comes to the body's ability to confront bacteria, viruses, and whatnot—and to fight back smartly—the chain of micro-events seems mostly mysterious and not a little miraculous. Yes, miraculous. Some might chafe, but I think the descriptor is not at all misplaced.