Good cheer

The fun is wearing off.  (Was it ever fun?)  I just want my leg better already.

Yesterday Mark stayed home from school because he was sick.  We didn't have juice and I wasn't really in a position to dash off to the store to buy some.  I told him he could make himself some Crystal Light.  He said, "meh."

When he started getting hungry for lunch and I didn't have a solitary idea of what to feed us that didn't involve an excess amount of hobbling, I decided a drive thru it was.  I limped my way to the car and we cranked up the heat and headed toward Culver's.

He was sniffling and coughing and coughing and sniffling.  I said, "Don't touch the radio.  I don't want to get sick."

Of course he did.  Over and over.  Because he's always been that kid.

We got identical hamburgers except his had mayo (bleck) and bacon (I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't love bacon) and mine did not.  Since I was driving, he determined which burger was his and set mine aside for me.  He pulled his burger apart and fished out the pickles (because he's always been that kid).  He took a big Mark-sized bite (sniffling and coughing don't compromise his appetite it turns out).  He said, "I think I have your burger."  He handed it to me, all decimated and germy and I was cranky.  Because I'd started out cranky.

My knee hurt when I got out of bed which isn't an auspicious start of any day.

Besides, it was raining on top of the snow which is depressing.  There's nothing as dismal as slumpy dirty snow.

We got home and Mark retreated to the computer (where he could snivel and cough all over the keys in peace) and I retreated to my chair with a pile of Stuff to Do around it so I could pretend my life held meaning.

The phone rang.

It was my mom's cousin Nancy.  I know I met her when I was a little girl at my great grandma's house but I hardly remember.  She and my mom have reconnected lately and they talk on the phone a lot.  Also Nancy reads my blog.  She was calling me to commiserate.  She was very kind and made me laugh.  My mom has said she is her cousin most like my great grandma (who I loved).  So I like Nancy too, though I hardly know her. 

She cheered me up.

She reminded me that even with a high probability that my rotten son has spread his germs to me, even though I'm hobbling everywhere I walk, even though the snow is slumpy, there is good in the world.

There are reasons to be happy.

I aspire to be more like her.

I'll try.

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may be. For I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.

Martha Washington