Diseased: The Sequel

First off, if you haven't read the previous blog entry entitled "Diseased", it might be good bedtime reading, as well as context for what I'm about to say here. In other words, give that a scan first.

But having said that, let me tell you that I appear to be the latest casualty to the stomach bug, my most hated illness ever (well, my most hated *relatively benign* illness ever, of course). But as I was pulling out all the stops in the pity party, Annemarie came upstairs where I was having a quite moment to myself knitting, having the chills, its partner fever, and watching the very nice PBS special on the British Monarchy.

Annemarie had remarked earlier today that when you want to give a sick person a kiss (because, you will remember, she rightly pointed out when she was herself sick that sick people need kisses most of all), you should do it on the forehead, so as to give them a kiss in the most hygenic manner for everyone involved. So when she arrived up in our bedroom, right during the part in the show when the Queen tries on the crown to make sure that its 2.5 lbs of encrusted jewels isn't too much for her head, I anticipated that such a kiss might be part of her visit. But what I did not anticipate was how excited she was to give it to me, how eager to help, how her eyes sparkled with the clear sense that she was helping her mother and making her feel better. She even patted my head. My funky-haired, crownless head.

So in a moment of sappiness that I'm sure will be repeated time and again on this blog, let me tell you how thankful I am for the stomach flu tonight. Of course, perhaps my thankfulness stems in part from the fact that I'm already feeling much better, and I may help myself to a birthday cookie (it's Cole's birthday, and I didn't feel well enough to be a part of the special cookie decoration.) But I think the catalyst for this thankfulness was my sweet daughter who was eager to practice caring and concern, and that just makes me gosh darn proud. :) Having now learned my lesson, I give the bug permission to exit my body. Uh, gently exit, please....

Dry your eyes and get on with your day, now.