When Steve and I first got married, I switched all of my medical records over to Steve’s family doctor so that all our history could be together. Like any doctor, when I first transferred, he wanted to do an entire check up and medical backgrounder. Our doctor has a very holistic approach to medicine which is to say that he’s often very concerned about the whole mind/body connection to health and well-being. Due to this school of thought, during my initial check up, he also had me do a “stress test”…an evaluation that would determine how much stress I was managing based on various circumstances of my life occurring at the time. The test included about three hundred questions ranging from “do you have a daily commute to work every day” to “have you experienced a recent death in the family”? Each question was given a point value and each associated time frame (ranging from three months to two years) also had additional point allocations.

Much to my surprise, even positive and happy events, such as having a baby or going on vacation, added just as many points to your test as negative and traumatic events did. Apparently, on going stress of any kind, be it in the context of excitement or grief, had the same effects on the body…tiring effects!!

I thought of that test this morning as I woke up feeling as though I hadn’t really slept at all. Our upcoming move, while being quite possibly the most exciting thing either one of us has done, has also proven to be very stressful for us. The result has been a sick husband for the past six days, a sore throat for my self this morning and nearly four sleepless nights for both of us! It’s been good times in the Smyth household as of late!!!

I’ll be the first to admit that my mind-body connection has left much to be desired right now and I’m almost frightened to think of how long it could take me to get back to my “usual” self after this move but, as far as I’m concerned, the first sight of my new home made it all worth it!!! It’s true…even the most positive and exciting of life events can take its toll on your body when you become consumed. For us, we’ve been working on this for eight months and now, during this last stretch, the time and energy is finally catching up with us.

Tonight though, Marie and Craig are rescuing us from our packing chaos and taking us out to the sticks for dinner with their family. I think that it’s just the escape we need right now as we head into these last few days. Good food…good company…and a good way to score better points on my next stress test!!