Remember the good old days when you went to work or school sick? That perfect attendance record was in reach! I never had that, but I did go out in public many a time – if you call having “the common cold” being sick.
Actually, there was a time I had to show up to teach a class on a weekend because there was no one to substitute. Students came from rural areas as well as the city, so I couldn’t ”call off” the class on short notice. I gingerly pulled myself out of bed for that one and made it through three hours.
My son deserves credit for toughing it out in school with a double ear infection so that he wouldn’t miss sports that afternoon. We were on our way to the ER early morning when he told me he knew it was an ear infection and he’d just as soon go to get antibiotics after school and practice. He was in third grade.
We all have stories of slogging through the day crippled by illness. The nice thing about a cold is taking cough syrup and slathering on the Vick’s Vap-o-Rub. There’s something comforting in that little self-care ritual.