...and I've felt worse. Pain level is pretty low, but the body is making it quite clear, thank you, that I should just rest and relax. Or there will be Consequences.

Having no desire for consequences or any other trouble, I have acquiesced to the message and have been keeping it quiet, slow-moving, easy paced.

I needed to eat something to absorb stomach acid, like cereal or crackers, to keep the pain meds from gnawing a hole in my digestive system. When I checked, B had eaten all the crackers and there was about 1/2 cup of milk in the bottom of the milk container for her coffee/my cereal.

I asked her twice to pick up milk and crackers. She was annoyed at my whining/nagging and I was annoyed that she'd used stuff up without replacing it. She's the grasshopper and I'm the ant, just as the fable depicts us.

These are the vicissitudes of living with somebody. The mistake most people make is thinking that the other person will change if only....I learned that lesson long ago.No matter how much they care for you, people don't change.

And I'm learning that even if you ask for what you want, you may not get it, or you'll get it served up on an attitude platter. I should have just grabbed my keys and gone out myself. Or done without.

I can remember, years ago, assertiveness training for women, in which they said you don't have to stand passively by. You can ask for what you want. And you don't have to be aggressive about it.

What they forgot to teach us is how to take "no" or accept inaction for an answer and what to do when that happens. Ask again, and you're a nag; accept it passively and you're back to where you started but feeling worse, feeling disrespected; go ahead and take care of yourself and don't ask for assistance, the third option.

This is why I'm reluctant ever to ask for help.