It was a dark and stormy night.
Probably...
Gandalf and what remained of the fellowship anxiously waited at the gates of Mordor. They were most likely all going to die. Unless, of course, by some miracle Frodo and Sam hadn't been eaten by a giant spider or betrayed by Gollum and were about to throw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom any second now...
Wait for it....
Then the gates opened.
"We're all going to die!" some random, unknown soldier cried.
Wait, a second. What is going on? Besides the fact that I'm rewriting a classic. Let me back up a bit.
Last week was exhausting. At the beginning of the week, my husband, Corey, started showing flu symptoms. We thought it would be a three day thing (his average flu length), and then it would be out of his system.
All I had to do was protect myself against the virus. I didn't have high hopes because I always seem to be the one to get sick. Just ask my family. It's kind of the family joke. It's often referred to as "Danielle's curse." Seriously, before any major family event or gathering, if some form of sickness has fallen upon me, all I have to do is say something about my curse and there will be a general moan, murmurings of, "I knew it!" and let's not forget the downing of vitamin C by everyone who will come into my presence. It especially likes to hit on holidays and sometimes trips to Disneyland. *sigh*
But what does this have to do with The Lord of the Rings? Keep reading.
Corey's ailment wasn't actually the flu at all (which is probably the only reason why my curse didn't kick in). After those three days with no obvious sign of improvement, we took him to the doctor (twice actually), and, long story short, he was having an allergic reaction which would take another 3-5 days to clear his system. Awesome.
You have no idea how extremely happy I was to finally see him eat yesterday.
One of the terrible things about being sick (besides vomiting and just feeling like garbage) is that you can't do much of anything. The best option is to stay in bed, rest, get your fluids, but sometimes we don't want to do those things. We just want to get better. But since you have all this extra time on your hands, in between sleeping and wanting to die, it's the perfect time to binge watch something OR read something.
Here comes the tie in.
Maybe you don't have to be sick for this to happen, but the only time it happened to me was when I was sick, and I'm curious if this experience has ever happened to any of you.
Some years ago, I was all snuggled up in my bed, trying to recover from some ailment and at the same time reading The Return of the King. Here I am, my body in bed, my mind in Middle-earth in the middle of a battle, and I slowly find myself drifting off to sleep. Then a very strange thing happened. I don't remember dreaming at all, although that would have been quite epic to find myself suddenly standing next to a wizard. But as I began to drift back into consciousness, I was so convinced the the war and the one ring to rule them all were real that I actually began to panic! I woke up frantically thinking, "Where's Gandalf?! We have to find Gandalf!" Seriously, a part of me thought that I was in immanent danger. It took me a moment to realize that that was only in my book and I was perfectly fine in my pajamas in bed and not in armor on a battlefield.
I've decided that this is one of the dangers of reading while you are sick, or perhaps just the dangers of falling asleep while reading.
So, has this happened to you? Better yet, have you actually fallen asleep and dreamed about the world you were reading about? I hope I'm not the only one who has panicked over a piece of fiction.
Of course you're not, Danielle. haven't you ever heard about The War of the Worlds?
That I have...and now I seem to be talking to myself.
Well, here's to a happier, healthier week!
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