Bleeding for Two

So – you know how sometimes you are pretty sure you know how things are going? This week was one of those times. I thought the biggest part of this week would be Natalie’s transition to a new class a daycare and the potty training. Right? Those are big things. My boss is out of town at work, so the week was all planned out there – no surprises. Wednesday was a blood drive at the office. I woke up Tuesday feeling dizzy – not nauseous, mind you – so I told the blood drive folks that I was tentative on the whole thing. Mid-day, I started my period and began to feel better. I almost always have a migrane or dizzy spell at the appointed time of the month, so I wrote it off. Wednesday, I had a very nice experience with the blood center and gave my pint. I was thinking it would be nice to go home and have a glass of wine in my reduced-tolerance state, since my dieting has limited my intake to non-buzz-inducing quantities. Then it hit me – I was standing at the elevator to go up to my office and I thought the floor was going to meet my chin. I sat myself down in the lobby and my nice co-worker Martha bought me a juice and pretzels. I felt so bad that I went home at 3:00 and crashed. The next time I went to the restroom, I noticed that my period had completely vanished. About an hour later, I thought I might have figured this one out (I’m slow, y’all) and I peed on a stick – a stick that, 3 minutes later, had the faintest hint of a pink plus sign. And now I know that, despite no medical research to prove it, it really is a bad idea to give blood when you’re pregnant.

Today’s book: What to Expect when You’re Expecting (some sadistic mutha), which surprisingly does not have any dire warnings about what can happen if you donate blood during pregnancy. There are warnings against everything from touching cat poop to skydiving, but they seem to think that no one would be stupid enough to save a life while “in a delicate state.”

Today’s music: “Say Won’t You Say” (Jennifer Knapp) Isn’t love amazing? I forgot how to speak – knowing you are near and I am finally free…All my devotion, put into motion by you

Today’s scripture: Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die…” (Numbers 15:35a.)
I would love to discuss this verse with people who want to ban certain other people from their churches. I’m sure they have heard the “plank in your own eye” plenty of times. I think this one is more convincing. The significance here is that the man God was talking about was guilty only of collecting wood on the Sabbath – the sin of disobedience. Yet I don’t expect to see any picketers at the local high school waiting to shout hateful things at the teenagers coming out of detention. (AND – I don’t expect anyone who claims to believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God to claim that the kid who cheated on his algebra test has not committed a sin.) Guess what people? In God’s eyes, sin is sin. The good news is that God has already paid the price for all of it - yours, mine, and everyone else’s.