Ben by Daniel Shelton for March 18, 2019

Husband when ill drives me crazy from his trying not to touch anything. “Pour me some soda please, I don’t want to touch the bottle and get you sick.” He also does the opposite when I am sick – “I’ll pour that for you so you don’t get me sick” (Cooking and dishwashing is even more fun when I am sick and have to wear a face mask and gloves.)

My solution to the soda and other things we both normally touch is to have a second one – big X on the one for whoever is sick.

People who are normally “healthy as a horse” make very poor patients and are less than tolerant of others who get sick. My eldest gets sick quite often and it can get serious if he doesn’t catch it quick enough. His wife has learned (the hard way – when he had to be hospitalized) to be more sympathetic and tolerant. She rarely gets ill, which is a lucky thing. She has my sympathy, it wasn’t easy being his mother.

you got that right

right. And women don’t whine and complain when they are sick? If you believe they don’t , I have a bridge to sell you, very cheap. You just have to move it from across the Hudson River.

My mum was born in 1921, before any sort of antibiotics. She survived diphtheria and whooping cough – something else I can’t remember – and honestly, unless you were actively bleeding or had a bone sticking out, she told you to stop sighing and go to your room. She survived; you’ll survive.

Wow, and that was without Ben even asking for anything!

She knows what’s coming they won’t take medicine won’t stay in bed but boy can they complain

Everyone knows “man-flu” is the worst.

Men and women do experience illness in different ways.

Men can be strong enough for battle, for manual labor, for tough sports…but get a cold germ and their can be 5 years old again.

The symptoms are what they are.

I think I can tough it out — the last time I “toughed it out” I wound up in hospital for two weeks with a life-threatening infection…

He is worse than he normally is now.

Misery loves company.