I didn't exactly look forward to being sick when I was a kid, but it did come with certain perks.
Being sick was still annoying, but staying home from school was pretty great! You got to lie on the couch wrapped in blankets, watching "The Price Is Right" and reading books all day, sipping hot broth.
It was not as good as a snow day, clearly, but it was a break from routine and school.
An adult sick day isn't as much fun.
I got to find this out recently when a nasty case of the flu swept through our office, taking out everyone in its path. Sadly, I was not immune.
This will come as a shock, but being sick is pretty awful. Especially if it's more than a runny nose.
This flu strain, which seems to have been going around the Lower Mainland for the last month or so, decided to really kick the tar out of me.
I am now largely over the hacking cough, and well past the 102-degree fever (I spent some time communing, face down, with the tile floor during the worst of this) and I don't feel the urge to just stare into space and sleep 12 hours a day any longer. So I can now look back and consider 鈥� how was my experience of being sick, and how did it measure up to when I was a child?
Here are the problems with being sick as an adult.
鈥� I have to make soup and Kraft dinner for myself, how is that fair?
鈥� I also have to find some real clothes, put on a mask, and drag myself to the drug store because it turns out all my cold medication was running out and/or expired.
鈥� Instead of someone bringing me some schoolwork I missed, my phone keeps beeping with work emails. Some of which I actually have to answer. Lucidly. This is difficult when I just woke up from a fever dream about a malevolent three-tiered birthday cake that tried to murder me.
鈥� It turns out people in their mid-40s do not bounce back as fast as nine-year-olds, so I got to enjoy a week after getting "well" of still feeling exhausted but also having my alarm clock wake me up at the normal time every day.
鈥� I don't have cable anymore, so I couldn't watch "The Price is Right."
The best part of being sick as a kid was that it was a pause in life. You didn't have any responsibilities for a day or two.
As an adult, life refuses to stop. You still have to worry about work, in fact, you might worry more about work because you keep thinking about all the extra stuff you'll have to catch up on as soon as you get back to the office. You can reschedule or postpone things, but they still need to get done, eventually.
The great thing about being an adult is that you're responsible for yourself.
The worst thing about being an adult, especially with the flu, is that you're responsible for yourself.
