'Tis the Season

I love this time of year. It is so full of promise. The holidays have been survived as has the first half of the school year. Just a few weeks of cold, maybe a sprinkling of snow and then it will be spring. I can practically hear the birds chirping and see the sun shining in my fantasy of this bright new year. It all looked so cheery and bright until.....the first sneeze from upstairs. It was quickly followed by the coughing bout from the basement that could be heard all over the house. Finally, I hear the mad dash up the stairs into the bathroom, toilet lid thrown up, and then I realized......the only thing different about 2015 as opposed to 2014 is....the flu finally found us. Sigh.....it took them all at once. Double sigh.....

In all fairness, I'm really not that surprised. I mean after all....it was bound to happen as many trips as we have made to the ER in the last couple of weeks. On our last trip, you could practically see the germs partying in the waiting room. There was a collection of hacky coughs, runny everything and people hovering over trash cans and puke basins. I grabbed masks and bathed both myself and David in hand sanitizer, but I felt even those measures where no match for the germ warfare going on in that small space. Then there is also the fact that Z and his lady love are constantly out and about, never thinking about what communicable disease might be hiding in every crack and crevice of life. While they have been brought up in a germ conscious society, at 18 are they really thinking about getting sick when they share food, drink and God knows what else? Of course not! Bottom line is.....all our bodies are probably fertile breeding grounds for everything from the flu to the plague, so really there is no shock that this targeted us. The only real surprise is..... that it took this long.

As I type this, the sounds of coughing, sneezing and the occasional whimper or hurried foot steps to the bathroom are what fill the quiet of my night. I find it difficult to close my eyes for fear that I will be jolted awake by the sound of my name being sickly yelled out to run bring aspirin, a drink or God forbid.....clean up a bathroom. I also do little sleeping with David sick down the hall. I fear him throwing up in his sleep as he sleeps mostly on his back. We have already been down the aspiration road and I don't wish to travel that path again.

I guess I really shouldn't complain. It has been a couple of years since the flu bug really hit my house full force. Last time I was one of the casualties and it took me forever to find my way back to 100%. This year I hope to stay well....at least until everyone else gets it out of their system. It is very hard to take care of others when you feel like warmed over death yourself. Not to fear though....I have brought in an arsenal of Lysol, Clorox wipes, Gatorade, ginger ale and vitamin C. This house isn't going down without a fight.

So as I lay here, praying that the worst is over soon, I think of spring days, warm breezes and anything that doesn't sound like someone puking! 

Happy Monday everyone!!!