Reflection

So I’ve been pretty sick here for the past two weeks. I’d had a terrible cough, deep in the chest. There were many times that I was very concerned it might be something pretty serious. Perhaps bronchitis or pneumonia. Thank God, though, it seems to be finally clearing up. I think it’s because I started taking medicine. I personally like to hold off on taking any medicine for as long as possible to allow my body the opportunity to try to fight off the germs itself. I consider it exercising my immune system. I believe that one can eventually make their body become dependent on medication over time if they do not let their immune system do some of the work. Unfortunately, I was not seeing any relief, so I decided it was time to start taking medicine. I still have a small cough, but it is nowhere near what it had been. I would guess that I will be back to normal within a couple of days, hopefully.

It’s amazing to think about how wonderful it is to breathe. Taking in a deep breath and feeling your lungs functioning. Very good feeling. Our lungs are very hard workers. Especially if we put them through so much trauma, like smoking. I used to smoke all the time. At one point in my life, I was probably smoking an average of 15 cigarettes a day! I even smoked over a whole pack in one day, one time. As of late, I’ve been off and on, and for the past couple of months had narrowed it down to approximately one a day, if that. Now, I’m on the track of being completely cigarette free. It’s not very hard when all you’ve been smoking recently was one a day. And I know that I’m definitely done smoking cigarettes in any kind of consistency from now on. After having this cough, I considered the possibility of having lung cancer or emphysema. It is not a good thought or feeling at all! To have the idea that your days on earth might very well be greatly limited. Especially when you are lying in bed, holding your wife while she sleeps. That is a moment you never want to leave. I want to be here with her for as long as I possibly can, and I’m not going to take the risk of being taken away by lung cancer just so I can have a 10 minute moment of nicotine enjoyment. It’s not worth it at all. Not to mention how terrible it would be of me to die and leave her here, in this life, alone, with two kids and no protection. What a selfish act, to smoke cigarettes and play roulette with my life, when I have loved ones that I desperately need to be here for. I need my wife, and I know she needs me just as much. What a terrible fate to risk putting her in. A widow at just 20 years old. It shames me to know that I was playing those games. At least now I truly understand how irresponsible it is. I might’ve saved my life in the process. Thank you, God.

I’ve been writing a bit more lately. Maybe not on screenplays as much as I’d like to be, but writing nonetheless. It feels really good, and I think, like exercising the body or immune system for that matter, writing is a habit that needs to be exercised. It seems the more you do it, the more you crave it. Soon, hopefully, I will find myself sitting down and writing out one of my screenplays with little effort. If not a screenplay, at least a story or book.

God Bless. Jer. 32:27
John L. Pelzel