Here's to Good Health

I was born with a unique gift.....super human health. I blame my mother. She has an immune system that rarely, if ever, breaks down. Genetically, I have followed in her footsteps and have had a relatively disease-free life. When I was little my sister caught the chicken pox and passed them on to me. They lasted three whole days. I see people get flu shots year after year and the single, solitary year I decided to get one I caught the flu. I was really excited when I was putting in my mission papers because I thought I'd have to get my wisdom teeth out before I left. I had visions of being bedridden in front of the tv for several days, with my mom bringing me soft serve foods like apple sauce, yogurt, and my personal favorite, ice cream! Alas, I am wisdom free and did not have to get any teeth pulled. I didn't even catch any sort of worm or bug in a third world country chock full of little guys just waiting to latch on and take over your body. I'm making myself sound like the victim here when in reality my good health is actually a blessing. However, I am a very lazy person and I get frustrated that I'm not able to slack in my responsibilities due to an unforeseen illness. This gift of immunity comes with two unhealthy side effects. First of all, because I rarely get sick I have little compassion for those who do. I just can't empathize (or is it sympathize?). I try to sound compassionate and understanding and charitable and caring....but it's all a big fat lie. The second damaging side effect is that fact that my tolerance for pain is extremely low so when I do come down with something, I tend to milk it for all its worth. The slightest body ache, sore throat, headache, cough, sneeze, or unidentifiable rash results in me calling my mom in tears, begging for help and advice on what to do to get better. When I get sick, it's a big deal and I want the world to stop until I'm ready to re-join it. On the other hand, maybe I have a super human tolerance for pain and so when I actually do get sick it really is just that bad. Maybe I've been a walking virus my whole life and have passed disease after disease on to my friends and family without it even affecting me......

Probably not.

Well, I guess the time has come for me to confess that I am sick, and at the most inopportune time too. I first felt the effects on Saturday, the weekend. Of course, there's plenty of time to rest and get better without missing a single ounce of work. Also, family dinner on Sunday consisted of my least favorite meal of all time, sloppy joes. My mom was practically begging to send some food home to me (in a normal situation I would have been thrilled. I take all the leftovers I can get because that means cooking less while simultaneously eating better food). However, I had to pass on the sloppy joes and ended up settling for some Chex that I had in my cupboard at home. Sigh. I really don't expect anyone to feel sorry for me, but just a little sorry would be okay. If anyone happened to be in my neighborhood and wanted to drop by with some good movies and chicken noodle soup, I wouldn't be mad. Cough, cough.