A Terrible Experience

At around 5.00pm yesterday, I left home for my one-hour evening exercises to my hometown of Kiserian. I usually do some jogging during the exercises and walk the rest of the way. Part of the reason I do the exercises is to keep myself fit and stimulate my intellectual thinking. And boy, don't I enjoy the evening exercises!

After I was done jogging yesterday, I saw a dark-colored Toyota Landcruiser (also known as Prado) traveling in the opposite direction. Prado being my dream car, I envied the one that I saw and wondered when I will ever own a similar car. That triggered a series of thoughts in my mind during which I thought of the way prominent politicians in Kenya own such Prados.

As I continued wallowing in such envious thoughts, I remembered what the book of Proverbs says about envy: that it rots the bones. So I quickly did away with the covetous thoughts and thanked God that I was feeling happy and peaceful in my soul. I walked on into Kiserian Town, reached a place on the northern side of the town and then turned on my heel for a return journey to my home.

While heading home and while still in Kiserian Town, I felt some discomfort in my stomach. I uttered a short prayer to God, asking Him to heal whatever was wrong in my tummy. But alas! The ache in my stomach persisted and saliva started forming in my mouth. Having found it disgusting - nauseating, even - to see people spit saliva in public, I restrained myself from spitting the saliva that was accumulating in my mouth, for fear that I could disgust other people.

But when I reached a certain place, I was unable to contain the saliva in my mouth anymore. So I pulled down my face mask and spat all that was in my mouth. What came out was a stream of saliva so foamy that it appeared like I had mixed it with a detergent. On spitting the saliva, I spotted a man on the opposite side of the road munching on something and hoped I hadn't disgusted him if he had observed me spitting saliva on the roadside.

As I walked on towards home, my stomachache worsened. I also felt like vomiting. The thought of hiring a motorbike to carry me home crossed my mind but I quickly dismissed the idea. I just had to finish my one-hour evening exercises like I always do.

At some point when the urge to throw up grew in intensity, I strode into a business apartment and headed straight to the loo where I found the toilets open. I entered into one of the toilets and spewed up all that was in my stomach. It surprised me that the food I had eaten for lunch about four hours before was still in my stomach.

Every time my stomach aches and I throw up, I have diarrhea as well. Yesterday when I got into the toilet of the business apartment to vomit, I didn't have diarrhea. And that was fortunate for me because there was no roll of tissue paper in the toilet and I didn't have one in any of my pockets.

After I left the business apartment and continued with my walk towards home, the discomfort in my stomach kept bothering me. I asked God to just at least let me reach home in one piece. And I was so focused on reaching home that I didn't notice the people I was passing by. A lady-friend of mine called Priscilla had to greet me aloud to catch my attention. I responded to her greetings without pausing to exchange more pleasantries. My tummy upset was having a heavy toll on me.

When I finally reached home, I ignored a request from my sick Mum to assist her in something and headed straight to my toilet where I had the diarrhea that I knew was coming. As I sat on the toilet bowl, I thanked God for letting me reach home without messing myself up. Now that I was in the comfort of my toilet where I had plenty of tissue paper, I stayed in it for about five minutes. And when I was done relieving myself, I felt so weak that I contemplated getting into bed earlier than usual.

Because of the sickness I had yesterday evening (stomachache, diarrhea and vomiting), I didn't enjoy my evening exercises as I often do. And that terrible experience has made me appreciate good health. Truly, as Mahatma Gandhi said, it is health that is real wealth - not pieces of gold and silver, or those sleek Prados that I see cruising on the road every now and then. So I have resolved to be expressing gratitude to my Maker whenever I am in good health.

My beloved reader, I urge you to also treasure your health - more than even your wealth. Eat well, drink water, exercise as much as you can and sleep fitfully at night. And remember if you have good health, you have the greatest blessing one can ever have. That's all I am saying.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story on a terrible experience I had yesterday, you might also enjoy another story I wrote last year on "Appreciating Good Health". Just click that link in blue to dive straight into the story.