ugh....and ew!

So, last night I was invited out to our family's house for iftar.  "What's iftar?" - you ask?  Well -- in Ramadan, the month of fasting from sunrise to sunset, iftar is the meal that you eat that breaks your fast.  In general, Muslims invite friends and family over a LOT during Ramadan, as we are all fasting, it seems to make these gatherings so much more meaningful.  Can't really explain it more than that...

Anyhow -- so all day long I'd had a headache.  I'd put it off to what I call a "fasting headache" -- our days right now are just shy of 17 hours, it's a long time to go without food or water, and since I'm not a person who likes to drink water to begin with, I can get these headaches (which are usually a sign of dehydration).  I digress...We all hop into the car and head on our way over there...and I start feeling really nauseous...but put that off to carsickness.  I stopped in the grocery store to pick up a cake to bring with us, got back in the car and was doing that perpetual swallow thing that you do when you feel like you're about to bring up your lunch.

We arrive, and I get into the house and think "oh my god -- I'm not going to make it."  It was filled with the smells of cooking and I'm sure to everyone else that was there it was fantastic, but for me...I"m sure I was green.  Time to eat and I sit at the table. I break my fast with the traditional dates and water - and it's all I can do not to run out of the room.  I think, you just need something more substantial in your stomach...and took a couple bites of my salad and a mouthful of rice.  I knew that I was not going to make it...so I excused myself and went out the front door -- hoping that the cool air would help me.

It didn't.

I went back in, and everyone's eating cake and happy and I just want to curl up into a ball and cry.  I make my goodbyes, wrangle up my children and leave my husband to his own devices to get a ride home (it wasn't that bad, his brother dropped him off) -- I left maybe 5 minutes after supper was finished, felt horrible (both physically and guest-wise -- how does one eat and dash like that??)  -- Anyhow -- get home, JUST in time to empty my stomach....and for the whopping 3 bites of food that I had, there was a LOT that was coming up.  Then, like the great mom that I am, I curled up on the couch with a blanket while my kids watched TV.  I awoke to hubby knocking at the door (I'd taken his house key when I left) and my children surrounding me -- each one of them curled up in a blanket and sleeping around me.

How am I feeling today??  Not sure yet...one minute just fine, the next minute my stomach is flipping and flopping....I hope that the scenario doesn't repeat itself again tonight -- I'm invited out to dinner again!