Sick Days

Right, so. I got sick.

And my blogging plans for this week were blown into a kleenex and thrown away along with my brains. So, you know the theme I had designated? Scratch that. Although something as broad as THE PAST almost always applies, and it will here, I did have something specific in mind, and it didn't include mucus and body aches.

But, to celebrate the last two days, which I spent at home from work, I want to discuss SICK DAYS, in all their glory and gore!

With my face plastered to my pillow with drool and snot, I realized that not much has changed since I was a child. Sick days are relatively the same now as they were then, the exception being that it's my own hands and feet which do the waiting (at least, while the boyfriend is at work). Other than that, they're pretty much the same, and nearly always include:

1. Science Fiction Marathons, which I doze in and out of all day long. When I was a child, I preferred the original Star Wars trilogy because I owned it on VHS and I couldn't get enough of Hans Solo's sexy sarcasm. Oh, to be young and dumb again. With age, I've come to appreciate Jean Luc Picard's wisdom and the moral dilemmas of Star Trek.
source

2. Cold Medicine Daze, all I had stocked in my medicine cabinet this time was Nyquil. When I woke up in the early morning hours and saw the orange sunrise reflecting off the snow covered rooftops, I was sure I was tripping. When I was a kid, it was all innocence and "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down...". With age, I've come to equate the experience with recreational drugs.

source

3. Grilled Cheese and Soup to Dip, and that's it. Maybe some juice, some water, you know, keep the fluids going, some tea. Other than that, bread, cheese, and spicy soup to clear those sinuses. Even though I can't taste a damn thing, there's something totally delicious and comforting about this combination when you're sick and nearly nothing else sounds the least bit appetizing.


4. Daytime Sleeps Too Long to Be Called Naps, because it's not a nap if it's six hours long. Totally necessary for the getting-well process. If you didn't have aches and pains in your back and/or neck going into the illness, you will by the end of it, just from laying in bed.

5. An Excuse to Miss Work or School, uh-huh, oh-yeah. I used to fake sick as a kid all of the time, to evade a teacher or an in-class assignment, usually a speech. I'd come up with creative ways to feign a temperature and I'd put on a quite a performance. Self-fulfilling Prophecy Syndrome? You know, when you will yourself into a state of sickness. A week ago, I was joking with Michael about acquiring his illness, just so I could take the week off of work. When you imagine a week like that, your ability to be productive at home is not obstructed. Of course, it never turns out that way. Ugh.

source

And finally,

6. Sympathy, give a little whine and moan and you're bound to attract the attention of someone. A co-worker, a friend, a significant other. I unintentionally managed to dupe my boyfriend into a baby-talking, what-can-I-get-you-dear frenzy. It's not pretty (but, I love him for it!).

By the way, I did make it back to work today.
And, for me, it's not so unlike this situation:

source

And that part about sympathy from co-workers... pfft. Everyone is treating me like I have the bubonic plague. Seriously, do I have QUARANTINE written on my back?

Somebody call the waaaaambulance!

<3