I thought this comment of hers is quite telling:
Up until the past few days, I honestly thought I was strangly immune to it. :-?
Candy is 30. That is still pretty young. At 30 I guess I thought I was still
"immune" from things too. At 30 old age, disease, death, seem far in the future. At least in the west, for most of us. It's easier to feel "immune" when we are isolated, insulated, and afraid to look at other possibilities or perspectives. That doesn't mean of course that one truly is "immune." It just simply means that it's easier to keep that illusion going. But someday, just like a nasty virus, we might just have to face some of those challenges and realize, perhaps our "immunity" isn't as strong as we thought it was.
9 comments:
I hate to admit this but... my hubby at 42 has never had the stomach flu.. I'm not kidding! He has had coughs and colds but never even a fever with those and he has never had the stomach flu and his 10 siblings are so rarely sick that it is just not fair, lol!!
I seriously think some people just have less of a chance of getting sick, of course, it is nice that hubby doesn't get sick-sick as he is the one who works, so it is really important that he not get sick. But... he never ever understands what I'm going through or even the kids when we are sick, he hasn't any idea how awful it is for us, I think if he gets the flu he will be a huge baby about it.. it will be so traumatic for him, lol!! So, although one shouldn't be "shocked" that they become sick, in Candy's defence, it is actually possible, although I do think it is rare.
Well, I'm kind of thinking of this "immunity" as a symbolic metaphor. I was thinking of it symbolically. ;)
Elena,
Your symbolic metaphor was not lost on me. I thought it rather insightful.
Tracy,
In my experience, men are much, much bigger babies and drama kings when they get sick. I know one man in particular who is able to convince himself he's dying any and every time he gets a cold. And, he's got those around him kinda wishing he would already. He can drag it on for weeks on end. Ugh. Holy cow! Good thing men don't bear children. Women would never hear the end of it.
FC - that is so funny, before I saw your post I was going to respond to Tracy that my husband is rarely sick either, but boy when he is watch out!!! He is the biggest baby and wants to be totally catered to, he acts like he is incapable of moving a pinkie! He would never make it as a "stay at home dad" if the tables were turned. He'd probably expect me to take off work! lol!
Then there are those men like my sister's husband. Broke a finger while out working on the farm. Came back to the house, got my sister to splint the finger and, despite my sister's protestations, went out to the farm again because he had some important manly business to finish off. Like building a fence or some thing.
Of course, this same man does become a big baby when he has the tiniest cold.
Ann-Marie, that sounds just like my dad!! He once had a pitch fork in his foot, pulled it out and kept working!! But my mom said if he gets the sniffles he is a big baby for days, lol!! I think this is why us women give birth?? ha!
I can top both of those stories. My grandfather's hired man once had his finger BITTEN OFF while they were castrating pigs. He waited until they were done with the pig before saying "I think we may need to go to the hospital. That pig bit my finger off."
I got the metaphor and had about a hundred thoughts shooting around my brain with that as a jumping off point. But, then I figured it was best left in my brain.
Men who are babies when sick? I've got the king, let me tell you! Or at least a high ranking member of the court. I was sick with the flu last week (which I've never in my life had before, although I never thought I was immune...just very fortunate) and got little to no assistance for anything. My husband doesn't know how to deal with the illness or discomfort of others so he tends to ignore the situation, claiming to be "leaving me alone" to rest and sleep and blah, blah, blah.
He woke up sick yesterday and has done nothing but whine ever since. He wants this, he wants that, he can't breathe, his head hurts, lather, rinse, repeat.
Faithful Catholic - my grandma used to tell us about her mother's philosophy on childbearing and family planning. She said, whenever she had a sick husband or son, that if life were fair, men would bear children and know real misery. And, to make it even more fair, men and women would alternate with each child; mom would have number one, dad number two, mom number three...and that's the size of the family because dad would never do it again. He wouldn't be able to.
It was more profound coming from my 75 year old grandmother as she told the stories of her own mother.
anne-marie- Totally sounds like my husband. He was at a military school and was accidentally hit with a grenade. He had shrapnel in his leg and it completely tore off his new boot, but he refused to take pain meds while they took out the shrapnel because he would not be able to finish the school he was going to. You are not allowed to shoot a gun while on pain meds, go figure. ;). He does get sick but will push himself until he collapses. I have taken him to the hospital twice after he let a cold turn into pneumonia and developed a 104 fever and passed out.
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