It's amazing how generous others can be with this gift. There are moments where I can not get anyone to give me a minute of their time, lend me an ear, or give me a hand, yet no one hesitates to pass on the flu.
As I shivered in bed the other night under the covers with my Nyquil and hot tea after receiving this lovely gift of the flu from an anonymous giver, I watched as an anchorman on the news reported that over 250 students at a local college were absent from classes due to the "swine flu". Even pigs, apparently have gotten in on the gift giving; who would have thought? And now, because those little farm dwellers have gotten in on the act and have mutated this germy gift into a particularly contagious version of "pass it on", the flu is now headline news. By then the Nyquil kicked in and sleep overcame me. I dreamt of little pigs in Santa hats delivering virulent, moldy green packages underneath Christmas trees and stealing cookies that had been left for Santa. By morning, I switched to Dayquil. Delerious visions of crazed Santa-pigs would not help get me through my day.
I decided that while I had this flu, I would do my best to keep this gift all to myself. Normally I am not so selfish, but in this case, I thought it would be appreciated. I quarantined myself off, for the most part, in my bedroom. When the kids wanted to kiss me goodbye, I told them to blow me kisses, and I "blew" them kisses back. Homework help was done at as much a distance apart as possible, with my son reading what was on his worksheet to me since I could not see it from across the room and then me telling him what that problem meant so that he could solve it. Binoculars aided in checking whether it was correct or not once completed. School photo order forms were slipped under the door for me to sign and the slipped back out again once completed to be placed in each child's backpack. I was determined to keep this flu away from my family.
Then it occured to me that even with all my extra precautions, I still send my children out the door each day to a world full of invisible, creepy, crawly things that live on the surfaces of every thing they touch and float in the very air they breathe. They will come into contact with hundreds of kids between the school bus, their classes, and the cafeteria at school. And all those kids are constantly, silently sending out little "gifts". Some of those gifts my children will end up keeping, whether they want them or not, and some may turn into one form of bug or another. But at least this time, I will know they didn't get it from me.
