being a mom
As A Mother I Thoroughly Enjoy My Yearly Bout With The Winter Flu
Now I don’t want to get all ridiculous so I will stop short of saying I LOVE getting sick, but it’s pretty much just short of that sentiment. Last year I got hit with the flu that completely clobbered me. Â One afternoon after picking up my son at school, I had no idea what hit me. Â I was suddenly dizzy, sweating and shivering at the same time. Â I double-locked the door to the apartment, turned on the TV and went to bed. Â I vaguely recall the kids coming in to ask for certain things but I don’t know any of the specifics. Â When my husband came home a few hours later everyone was still alive and he got to taking care of the kids. Â The next day I was a tad bit more coherent and could drag myself out of bed to throw together a meal or two, but that was the extent of it. Â I planted my 18-month-old and 3-year-old in front of the television and spent most of the day under the covers. Â I called in sick to my son’s preschool because you know what? Â It wasn’t worth the trek to and from school for the two and a half hours he was going. Â This continued all week long and it was great.
What’s not to love about no pressure to plan activities for your little kids? Â About finally having an excuse to let your kids watch TV all day? Â What’s not to love about not a shred of guilt over serving cold cereal for every meal? Â About your husband doing more than his fair share of everything? Â That’s right, I love being mom with the flu. Â Other than, of course, having the flu because that totally sucks. Â But I find being a mom who is sick has hidden perks I’m afraid some of you aren’t taking advantage of. Â Being a sick mom is like a mini vacation.
As if I haven’t already karmic-ly doomed myself to experience the worst flu of all time, I am going to push it even farther and say I have no fear this cold and flu season. Â Because this year I’m working full-time so my kids are in school longer, my husband is around more and I have much less responsibility at home than I’ve had when I was the full-time caregiver. Â It’s only a slight exaggeration to say I dream of being able to call in sick, work from home smelling of vapo-rub, and sleep to my heart’s content without anyone asking for anything of me. Â But it’s definitely fair to say this mom gets sick once a year and checks out completely without a second thought. Â If we can’t take care of ourselves first, we can’t take care of anyone else.
(photo:Â BigLike/Shutterstock)