It started 12 days ago when my husband sneezed. He spent a couple of days with the sniffles and a mild sore throat. Then my son caught it: sore throat, cough, fever. No school for four days, and a whole weekend to fully recover. Then I got it. Everything. Stuffy nose, sore throat, cough, fever, headache, which has now settled into painful sinuses and stuffed up ears.
Sick.
When I worked full time for a company, sick days for my child or myself were extra stressful. Was my child sick enough to stay home? If I sent him to school, was he contagious? Could I take the time off from work? Did I have enough sick days left for the year? Should I send him back to school a day earlier to save some sick time, even if he was still coughing and exhausted? What about when I got sick: if I’d already taken off four days to care for a sick child, could I take off more time to care for myself? Would I infect others at the office if I went in, or would there be more problems caused by me staying away?
But happy.
Now that I work from home and work for myself, I was able to keep my sick child home from school so he could get better. When I got the bug, I was able to arrange my work schedule to get essential client work done but still take time to rest and recover. I could work for an hour, then nap. I work at home so I didn’t worry about passing this illness along to others. I’m still sick, but I feel better already when I think about how much less stressful this has been.