Going Around

It's that time of year again. The time when everyone seems to get sick at the drop of a hat. Cold, flue, stomach viruses (or viri), they're all spreading like wildfire.

That's just how it is with these kids. You stick 15-20 of them in one cramped room and diseases are bound to incubate. After all, it's not as if your average 7-year-old is able to cover a cough or sneeze instinctively. That's pretty much a learned habit, one that a lot of adults have trouble with too.

Over the last couple weeks, illness has bordered on trendy. It's like you're not cool unless you have some kind of infection. Most popular this season? Some unnamed stomach virus. I'm sure there's a name for it, but I'm not a doctor and know nothing of such things.

Yesterday, in the 1st grade class I observe, a little boy threw up in the floor. I felt bad for the poor kid, but I kind of had to bolt. I just couldn't be around it. My strict policy is that no one vomits alone in my presence. Translation: if I see, hear or smell it, there's a good chance I'm gonna ralph too.

I didn't, though.

Thankfully, I've avoided this wave of nausea that seems to be affecting so many. But I couldn't miss out on the common cold. Started with the sore throat. Continued with the jacked up sinuses (or sini). Now it's moved into my chest, where it will stay for approximately three to six weeks.

I should be in good shape once Christmas arrives.