Our adventurous African honeymoon trip was going wonderfully, yet I had reacted quite ungraciously to some harmless issue one morning. It left me with an unhappy feeling about my consciousness and actions—a feeling of not being in control of my responses.
Flash to later that day. We were touring a famous historical site in the country. Our guide, Peter, was knowledgeable and kind, and the tour was interesting; yet I kept feeling worse and worse physically, until finally I had to leave our small group and sit down on a bench. Peter and my husband were very thoughtful and tried to help me. I finally explained that I had my menstrual period, and was quite uncomfortable. Peter responded sympathetically that he was a married man himself, and commented that some months were horrible for his wife. At this point I thought what a ludicrous imposition this was on women, from Africa to the United States of America! I mentally put my foot down. I met, as Mary Baker Eddy urges, "the incipient stages of disease with as powerful mental opposition as a legislator would employ to defeat the passage of an inhuman law" (Science and Health, p. 390).
I sat up, joyfully
able to continue the
tour in perfect
comfort.
