Bottomless Box of Tissues

DS picked up something travelling from California back home to Minnesota on December 20th. We packed him up and sent him back with a head full of decongestant and packets of tissues. On Tuesday when I next talked to him, he was feeling more himself, but still stuffy. Nearly 10 days of it. On December 30, each of us left in frigid Minnesota seemed to have grabbed the bug. I was useless by Sunday, but pulled myself together for work on Monday. It is now day eight of what I'm told has been a 10 day cold, inconveniently passed between family members, office workers, and school students. 

Part of me wishes I would just succumb to all out sickness because the lagging cough, chest pressure, and endless snot and sneezing is quite unproductive, but not justifiable to stay in bed with chicken soup.  No fever, no muscle aches, no sinus infection.  Just a cold. A whopper of a cold. I will wash my hands even more regularly than I already do, for I was a former preschool teacher and you can't break those habits. I'll keep a supply of tissues at the ready, seemingly like a bottomless box to replace each one as they empty. I'll swallow another round of decongestants, drink my tea, and hope by Friday, the 10 day mark, I will be cold free. That is, until the next round reaches me and my family again.  Stay healthy out there.