A man mid-sneeze. Original CDC caption: “This 2009 photograph captured a sneeze in progress, revealing the plume of salivary droplets as they are expelled in a large cone-shaped array from this man’s open mouth, thereby dramatically illustrating the reason one needs to cover his/her mouth when coughing, or sneezing, in order to protect others from germ exposure.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It seems that colds are the “in” thing right now. Everywhere I go, people are coughing and sneezing. Now that I’m one of the members of the in-crowd, I can state without any hesitation whatsoever, I don’t like it. This is a club I would prefer not to join.

I haven’t had a cold in years. Having one makes me grumpy and listless. But I can’t go to the gym to relieve my grumpiness or listlessness because I have a cold. Yes, it’s a cycle, but not one I can ride. Trying to exercise while I cough and sneeze would not be fun for me–or for the people around me.  Yes, I do understand it could be worse. After all, I don’t have the flu. Or polio. Or the plague.  But my nose is red and sore, and I’m tired because I was coughing all night.

I am fortunate to have a kind husband who picked up spicy, vegetarian lemongrass soup for me on his way home from work. I would like to say it tasted delicious, but I can’t really taste anything right now. He also bought Sudafed for me a couple nights ago. In case you haven’t purchased it recently, it requires approximately 17 forms of ID, a couple of sworn affidavits, and an Executive Order signed by POTUS himself. Perhaps I exaggerate, but only slightly. In any case, I didn’t have to go to the drugstore myself, which is good because I could stay in my pajamas and be grumpy.

I’ve been drinking gallons of water, tea, and hot soup. I’m not sick enough to stay in bed, so yesterday I spent the day blowing my nose and working dutifully at my computer on assignments that are due. (And yes, this morning I wiped my keyboard down with alcohol and sprayed the house with Lysol because I am both conscientious and a germaphobe.)

Then our younger daughter sent me a text saying she might come home from college for the weekend. I told her I wanted to see her, but I wasn’t sure that she should come home since I have a cold. I don’t want her to get it–because then we would both be grumpy.

Please forgive all my complaining. I AM feeling better today, but I still have a cold. And I’m grumpy.