Saturday, February 24, 2007

Pass the Nyquil, Please

I am much closer to understanding how such a huge population was wiped out in Europe from the Bubonic Plague.

We have an illness sweeping through our house. It started with Unruly, home from school for two days with fever, sore throat, headache, stomachache. I stayed home with her (thank goodness for a job that allows me to work from home from time to time!), comforted her, cuddled her, medicated her...kissed her headache away. I want to make it all better for her and one of the ways she is most comforted is lots of snuggling. She likes to be close to be, especially when she's not feeling so good. I imagine most kids are like that, needing the comfort and closeness a parent provides.

Well, guess who's sick now? Yup. Me. Headache. Body ache. Sore throat. Fever. Feeling all kinds of BLAH. And who comforts me? No one! How is that fair? I'm the comforter, never the comfortee. And as I wrestle with my own illness, I still have to step up to make the fever and the aches go away for Unruly. As I comfort her, I take in more of her nasty little germs. She'll get better as I get sicker, then, she'll get sick again as I get better and then Hubby or Wild will catch our disease and pass it around once again. It's an ugly cycle. I need to break the cycle. Maybe I should just get a hotel room for a few days, all by myself, away from the rest of my disease-ridden family. A good, strength-building, virus-decimating vacation in a germ-free zone.

Ahh...one can dream, can't she?

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