The Effects of Pseudophedrine

So I've been battling this cold for about a week. It's mainly congestion, so I've been taking a lot of Sudafed, both with and without pseudophedrine. Apparently the plethora of meth labs have made it so you have to specifically ask for the real stuff. I think, though, that I should stick with the fakies because yesterday evening I took some Aleve cold medicine with about four times as much pseudophedrine as normal (it's a 12 hour pill) and thought, by taking it relatively early, that I would actually be able to sleep. Funny, I can't sleep without it because my nose is all plugged and I can't sleep with it because it keeps me awake!

The point is that I had a pretty sleepless (though clear-breathing) night and I had a lot of time to think random thoughts. With it being almost Christmas and all, I started pondering what life must have been like for Mary at this time years and years ago. It can't be all that fun during your last few weeks of pregnancy anyway, but she had no idea where she was going to be when she had this baby and who was going to be able to help her. Oh yeah, and she's carrying the son of God, but to many people she was probably just the unmarried pregnant girl. How many people believed her? Were there moments even Joseph doubted? How would it feel to insist something so unbelievable and face the doubts of others every day? I have a hard time believing she was always the picture of peace and contentment we see in paintings and sculptures.

And once she had Jesus, how would it feel to raise the son of God? Undoubtedly there were still people who didn't know or believe who he was, and it was also probably scary and dangerous at times, for there were those in power who were desperate to keep their reign. Did Mary always look upon her son as the son of God or were there times when she kissed a scraped knee and just cradled him as her child, forgotting his blood was holy?

It would take a unique woman to accept the fact that her son did not belong to her but to the world, and that his life was not going to be easy. Did she battle in her heart, wanting to protect her son and not wanting God to put Jesus through hardship? I'm sure she did...after all, she was a mother. Anyway, those were my rambling, semi-drug-induced medititations last night. They must not have been that odd, though, because I'm still thinking about them today.