Ryan Gosling, Some Guy Named Matt, and a Comfy Couch

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . talking with an acquaintance from church as we walked to Trader Joe's (Phillip used our car to take our kids up to my parents' cabin for the weekend; bless him).

. . . lying on our couch hugging a pillow.  In fact, most of my day went something like this: take cough medicine, lie on couch, read blog, lie on couch, conduct domestic science experiment (see below), lie on couch, paint toe nails, lie on couch (with painted toes properly aligned so as not to stain said couch), start chicken soup in pressure cooker, lie on couch.  You get the idea.  Occasionally I attempted to just spend the whole rest of the day lying on the couch, but sooner or later I started to go crazy.  You really can have too much of a good thing.

. . . the aforementioned domestic science experiment.  I wanted to see if blue Dawn dish soap really would remove the ghastly ring-around-the-collar from Phillip's white church shirts.  I researched proper procedure on ye Internet, used a retired toothbrush to rub Dawn into the stains, then washed as usual.  Whaddaya know?  It worked!  Funny thing is, my MTC companion passed that tip on to me over a decade ago, and it's taken me this long to try it.  Thanks, Hermana.

. . . watching the 2012 video compilation of Matt dancing with people all over the world.  I hadn't seen this one before, and like its 2008 predecessor, it delighted me in a way that brought tears to my eyes.  I love what he's trying to say with it: that whether he's with American cheerleaders, kids in Rwanda, or ballet dancers in Syria with their faces digitally obscured (presumably for their safety), we all have a lot more in common than we tend to think.

And another thing . . .

. . . when the Apostle Peter shows up in a tux and inquires about your laundry detergent, you know you're dreaming.

. . . my cold symptoms are getting better in some ways, but I'm still coughing a ton, which wipes me out, and I still have no desire to eat anything.  At lunch time I heated up the only thing in our house that sounded palatable, then sat at the computer to read Voice of Reason.  I don't read it regularly because I don't need any encouragement to be snarky, thankyouverymuch, but I pop in every now and then for a laugh or a wry grin.

The blog did, indeed, pick me up, but not in the way I expected.  I happened upon this post, which included a fabulous Ryan Gosling sympathy card that made me laugh, but which also contained the sad news that Nem miscarried last fall.  I know that she is currently expecting her second child, but I didn't know about the miscarriage in between.  She wrote about it with grace and gratitude for the blessings that came with the trial, but you could tell it was still really hard on her.  And on the countless commenters who expressed empathy because they'd gone through the same thing.

Nem's post really put my morning in perspective.  Yes, cold symptoms are miserable, but my baby is fine, and in a week or so I'll be fine, too, and all the coughing and sinus pain and bizarre hours-long dreams about laundry detergent will be largely forgotten.  I'm not exactly grateful for this cold, but I'm grateful that it's the worst I have to deal with, and that it will be over soon enough.