Letters from an Anonymous Friend are written by my long time friend who’d rather keep her real identity secret. She also probably wishes she would have kept that face mask she sent me from Spain that she got when some dummy in her masters class joked that she had swine flu and ended up making the whole class spend a day at a European hospital.
Under normal circumstances, I’m as healthy as an ox. I’ve got ¼ hardy German blood flowing through my veins and I’m no sissy when it comes to grunt work. When God made me, He gave me a strong immune system and tough body to handle physical labor.
That’s why I’d like to give a shout out to the student who passed on his germs and got me sick. Oh yeah, I’m sure I know who it is.
How? you ask.
My very educated guess stems from the week when little “Bobby” (who’s actually not so little) came in every day with a phlegm-filled cough, making everyone in the classroom cringe from fear that eventually a slimy lung would flop out onto his desk and start convulsing phlegm from its obviously congested capillaries.
Wait- it gets better.
“Bobby, you’re sick! Why aren’t you at home?!”
He looked up at me and- yes- he grinned boyishly. “I’ve already missed so much school, my mom made me come back.” (And infect other children, I added with silent consternation.)
“But you’re sick!” I reiterated, in case he missed it the first time.
“I’m actually much better.” (But still sick.)
“What do you have?”
(You might want to sit down for this one.)
“Pneumonia.”
I wanted to push that kid away with a 40 foot pole and keep him there forever.
Now, I know that there are circumstances when a parent can’t be home to take care of a sick child, but pleeeeease! Sending your kid to school exposes other children to the sickness!
And while teachers really wouldn’t mind smaller class sizes (even if it’s temporary), we are exposed to the germs as well. Regardless of our built up immune systems, we’re not freakin’ Superman. And it’s actually a pain and a worry to bring in a last-minute sub (a topic for another blog), so, unless I’m on my death bed, I’ll come to school sick and give the kids group work so I don’t have to be near them.
Well, thanks to little Bobby, last week was a very under the weather type week; but, thanks to my ¼ hardy German blood, I’ve been able to tough it out. And, thanks to modern medicine, I feel like a walking pharmacy for all the maximum medicinal amounts I’ve taken.
I don’t know if I’ve learned anything from this other than to keep a face mask on hand during school hours. Might not be a bad idea…
