Well, my grandson Lennon is on the mend, but his mother and I are sick now.  Go figure. I guess that is how these things go.

His mother has the flu and has to where a mask around the house to avoid infecting Lennon. I have an excruciatingly raw sore throat with a gross post nasal drip.  I must say, I wondered at first if I was experiencing sympathetic suffering with Lennon after his surgery.  After I moved on from that, I thought I must have picked up something at the hospital.  I finally concluded that I likely picked whatever it is I have at NDSU.  College students are the carriers of so many germs and illnesses that it is a miracle that I don’t catch more of the things that go around.

I always tell my students to please stay home if they are sick.  I think it is counter to their major – emergency management – to be the source of a bio-hazard.  Emergency management students, of all students, should be sensible in their management of risk.  Alas, they are young and often believe themselves to be invincible, so many a sniffle and hacking cough emerges in our class days as they soldier through whatever ails them.

So, here I am on the front end of what I think will be some kind of cold.  It hurts to talk and swallow and medication does not seem to be easing the pain in my throat, but tomorrow is another day and I hope to show some improvement then.  I am clearly not as durable as my students.  The good news is, it is only Friday and I have two more days to recover before the week begins in earnest.  I will hope for a short-run event and the ability to speak without pain.  Otherwise, I may be delivering my classes next week in sign language…how many ways could that go wrong? 😉