illness

I hate getting sick! (I don’t know anyone who actually likes it.) There are some illnesses that are over and done within 24 hours, then there’s the others. Everyone has a particular illness they get more frequently, or just seems to never go away. For me, that is the common head cold.

When I was younger (high school), I could be down for 2 weeks because of a cold. The first week I would sniffle through the day, drugged up on cold medicine, and using one tissue after another. Of course, after the first day, my father would make me go to school unless I had a fever (which was hardly ever). After that first week though, I would gain a new determination to get over it. I would just decide I was no longer sick and move on. Usually took another week to really go away.

As a college student, I carried around the medicine like a badge, and I always had a glass of orange juice in hand. The tissues were down in a pocket somewhere, deep in my backpack. I’ll not forget the day I walked into my advisor’s office and asked if I could use his mini-fridge to house my big bottle of juice (so I could get refills throughout the day). He laughed of course, but offered up anything I needed.

I’m still the same. Spent four days on the couch being miserable, drugged up on cold medicine, and drinking orange juice (sleeping through the marathon of my favorite shows). Then, just like that, I decided this was done! Day 5: got up, showered, put on a cute outfit, and went out to lunch (and dinner too). Sure, I have some lingering effects, but give me another day…there will be no more!