Poor Sweet Baby!

My darling Wifeness has been sick for more than a week. The French call it “un rhume”. The Spanish say she’s “resfriada”. She’s got a cold, and it’s persistent. She’s not sure it’s reached the point of infection, but it’s certainly not your garden variety cold bug because it’s not going away. It just keeps moving around. I feel for her. Please send her some “poor sweet baby” love. That’s what my mother used to say if you were feeling under the weather. She’d say it with that kind of “Aww!” voice that is the hallmark of mothers everywhere. Then she’d put her (freezing cold) hand down your shirt to check to see if you were feverish. I don’t know how she could ever tell if you were feverish when her hand was only 52ºF/11ºC.

This got me thinking about how, before I had my gallbladder surgery, I used to get sick every year at least twice. Usually it was at the change of seasons: Once in November when the weather turned cold, once again in April when it turned warm again. Sometimes, these events would turn infectious and I’d have to go see the doctor for some help. Always, these events kicked my arse. I am not a good sick person.

After my surgery, I was surprised to notice that I didn’t get colds when everyone else did. There were times when I felt like I might be coming down with something, but I’d back off the coffee, pump vitamin C into me and do all the other things I used to do to prepare for the onslaught of illness, but nothing would ever come. It’s been 3 years, and I’ve not had anything like a cold. I’m knocking on wood as I say this, and I don’t mean to sound overconfident. It’s just that I’m surprised by it. It makes me wonder just how long my gallbladder was causing problems before it got noticed. I’m glad it’s gone.

With Wifeness down for the count, plans for the day have changed. I’ll have to run out to the store to get supplies so we have stuff for lunches tomorrow. The kids can help me clean house. Maybe we’ll go (or I’ll send them) outside for a while. It’s a beautiful day, if you can handle the fact it’s only just at freezing. The faucet in the kitchen will have to drip for at least one more day. So, too, will the fixes to the links on this blog (I just realized that they don’t actually work). There will be leftovers for dinner tonight (which is ok because there are a LOT of them from New Year’s Eve). I was going to try to hit the gym today, but I may have to settle for riding on the trainer tonight, after everyone’s in bed.

Finally, a link to pass along. Yondalla, over at Thoughts from a Foster Family posted this link: [CLICK HERE]. I’m passing it along because it’s a great look into Reactive Attachment Disorder from the eyes of a child who is working to overcome it. I’ll work on a post about this condition for later, but I’d like to encourage everyone, whether you have any connection to foster care or not, to learn about it and connect what you discover to J’s experience. J’s mom, Lisa, has a blog as well, called Life in the Grateful House.