I meant to grab my laptop earlier to write some thoughts about Minnesotans and living here, but then my husband came home from the Y. He was pale, coughing and blowing his nose.
Icy fear gripped me and I backed away, mentally calculating the number of steps to the Lysol. He made himself some oatmeal as I stripped bed linens to wash in scalding water. Once I had a load running, I sat down and wondered aloud, "How did you catch a cold? You don't go out much and you work from home, so...no sick coworkers." He grumbled, "I don't know. Maybe at the Y. Or grocery shopping. Or from you." Excuse me? I took the bait. "I haven't had a cold in months!" My voice was a little loud, a bit shrill, and I confess, it was because I was on edge imagining what the next 2-28 days would hold. The coughing 1950's style into his fist (instead of the crook of his arm) and then touching every shared surface in the house. The nose-blowing at 2 AM, 3 AM, 6 AM, etc. The death groans, oh the death groans. He didn't like my tone of voice and stormed off to eat his oatmeal in the other room. This man normally possesses a fairly cheerful disposition and is generally laid back. But he turns into a snarling, angry man-beast when he's sick. When I get a cold, I complete whatever tasks and errands I'd planned, get them out of the way. I wipe down every surface I've touched with Clorox wipes, chug some Nyquil and sequester myself in the bedroom with a box of tissues and sleep, sleep, sleep. When I'm hungry, I get up and make some soup or grilled cheese. When I run out of cold meds, I make a Walgreens run. What I don't do is get all dramatic. But, now, a brief reprieve for me. He's headed to his parents' house to help put up drywall, infecting innocent baby boomers in the process. I should probably warn them, but then, what if they turn him away and send him home? No, I need those few hours to mentally prepare for the next battle with the #mancold.
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About Sally FarleyI'm a typical, hardworking Midwesterner, enduring (and sometimes participating in) the passive-aggressive complexities of life in Minnesota. ArchivesLinksAsk a Manager
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