Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Mom Immunity Challenge

I am not a good sick person. Nope, nada, no way. First off, give me a cold. Had one a couple of months ago that took forever to go away. I can go to work, function in an upright position and be a contributing member of society, regardless of how contagious I am. But the flu, ick. That just wipes me out and sends me to bed for days. Horizontal is the only position I can muster and as much as I would love to contribute, it just doesn't happen.

I recently had a small bout with the flu. The worst part is what you learn to hate. I really don't know if I can stomach an omelot with ham any time in the near future. Great going down, but.. okay won't go any further. My cousin ate a bottle of St Joes Baby Asprin as a kid. At that time the doctors in the emergency room gave her something to make her throw it up. To this day you mention any thing orange and she turns green. So the disussion with one of my suppliers today turned to foods we can't eat anymore. For John is had something to do with gin or vodka, for one of my kids it's raw carrots. This too shall pass but it makes getting better a pain. And it's also not the way I wanted to start my post holiday diet. On the good side, it's making it easier to stick to the diet as I can muster more then a few select items and am not tempted to wander off course just yet.

Now when moms get the flu, the world does two things-goes into fast forward while at the same time slowing down. School projects need to be today, dinners must be made, meetings need to be attended, but laundry never seems to make it into the washer, dishes end up piled on the counter and a never ending stream of how do I do this from those not sick, who are in all accounts, trying to help. As a friend put it, where is the Mom's Immunity charm. Similar to all those reality TV shows where contestants race to finish the challenge in order to gain immunity from being booted off the island, we mothers do it on a daily basis but just don't seem to win.

I will admit, other then my son looking at me the day I was really sick and calling me a train wreck-thanks Alec, I have a family who really tries to help out. I spent one morning hugging the porcelin goddess, the rest of the day with body aches from hell. Managed to get to work the following day but thank God for weekends as I then spent the next day in bed. David tried to avoid cooking anything that would turn me green from the smell. Made sure I had enough to drink and almost too willingly opted to sleep on the couch so I could moan and groan to my hearts content. Actually, he was scared to get what I got and made sure to keep Meredith outside with him for the day and avoid me when possible. Oh well.

I had piles of dogs on the bed, not really concerned but just wondering why I was still in bed. My dogs realize I don't have that immunity charm either. Moose made sure my feet were sweating and that the crackers on the plate were safe to eat. Clairee, I think, was the only one who really understood what was up. She was the only one who didn't have to follow me into the bathroom to see what I was up to. And of course, I had to miss the big dog show in St Paul. I was so bummed but figured that my dog friends didn't want to spend a good portion of the weekend with me in the ER after I passed out. Now wouldn't that have been just a blast?

As for the immunity charms, time to hide them in my house, I have a feeling a few people will be pulling out their's in a few days.

C

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Happy second birthday for Tuli and Wally's Puppies from the family of Beckham seize the day