Monday Musings.

Why is it, when we are hit with a (minor) illness, we revert to our child-like selves?  Personally speaking, of course.  I am usually as healthy as a horse and I can't remember the last time I got a big, soggy, miserable head cold.  Oh, wait!  It was yesterday!  You know those mornings when your head leaves the pillow a half hour after you've risen?  Where you just want to hang a bucket off your head to deal with all the "leaks"?  I am a horrible patient.  Antsy, frustrated, whiney.  And really, all I need is my mother.  Or a husband, partner, roommate, indentured servant to do my chores.  I wander about in my cold clothes, trailing damp hankies.  And I am darn glad I have a collection of hankies, as I do NOT use tissues.  I am too forgetful (and cheap).  There have been too many instances of the errant tissue left in a pocket - I do not have to describe the resulting laundry issues.

Of course, if I'm feeling lousy and sorry for myself, almost the last person I'd want to see is my mother.  She did not tolerate sickness well.  We got one day - one - to lie in bed and ring our little bell.  Then, if it was not some terrible malady, it was time to "get up" and do.  If I tried to squeeze out a little more sympathy (by now you all know how melodramatic I am was), she would rustle me up a dish of milk toast.  I tell you, that would put the roses in my cheeks - as I bolted out of bed just to get away from it!  How anyone in their right mind could think a combination of soggy toast sprinkled with sugar in warm milk would cure what ailed you is beyond me.  Hey!  Stop the presses!  It DID cure me!  However, my mother made the most wonderful custard.  That, my dears, is a warm, loving hug in a cup.

Having a head cold, while living in the Northeast in the winter, and dealing with animals, is not for sissies.  By the time I get all the sub-zero outdoor gear on, I am down to shuffling.  And everyone is hungry except me.  The only upside of all this is that I get to live in my fleece skirt, long underwear and hand-me-down cashmere sweater (only handed down because it has a paint stain - which doesn't bother me at all!)  I don't have to answer the phone.  My dogs are warm.  And I've discovered the Hot Brick Toddy!