sick day

First off- Happy St. Paddy's Day! Have a green beer (or cookie, if you prefer).

Speaking of green...Charlie had a fever and sore throat yesterday-strep has been going around school, so he stayed home.

Do you remember sick days as a child? Once it was decided that I was too sick to attend school, I would burrow down under the still warm covers. I could hear the sounds of others getting on with their day around me, and listen to the roar of the school bus as it slowed for my stop, then sped on by when it realized I wasn't there.

If I had a bad cold, my mom would make me cream of wheat. I really disliked it any other day of the year, but for some reason I loved it when I had a cold. If I had stomach troubles, it was toast, cut into triangles. And I always got a bendy straw in my juice, or water, or milk, so it was easier for me to drink. My favorite sick day lunch, if I had a cold, was cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese (on white bread of course-did they even make whole wheat sandwich bread then?)

My mom would bring in my food on a metal tray, that had legs that folded down so it could sit on my lap on the bed. She would fluff the pillows up, and make sure I wasn't going to spill all over the blankets.

My favorite benefit of a sick day (it wasn't missing school, as I LOVED going to school) was uninterrupted reading time. As kids, we had lots of chores at home, and reading wasn't allowed until the work was done. So to have a whole day, and be able to read as long as I wanted to, was bliss. It made feeling crummy nearly worth it!

In second grade, I had the chicken pox over Christmas vacation. I had received two books for Christmas that year (my favorite gift) and I devoured them over the several days I spent in bed, trying hard not to scratch all of those spots. "Little Women" and "The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew" are still some of my favorites. When I had the mumps (both sides at the same time, I truly looked like a chipmunk) I read "The Saturdays". Such wonderful sick day reading!

Charlie laid on the couch and watched old episodes of "The Office". Things change.