How not to get sick

A few weeks ago, when we were nearing the end of February, I casually mentioned to Zach that winter was almost over and I couldn't wait until spring was here so I could officially say that we'd made it through without any of our household members being sick.

A few days later Zach came home with a cold. He blamed me, of course, for making the Sick Gods aware of our good fortune. I think he willed himself to get sick so that he could point out the error of my ways. A couple days after that Sabine was sick. Then, in the middle of one night, Jacob sat up in bed and threw up. I thought it was all over, the thing I feared most was coming to get us. The Stomach Flu. Apparently the once vomiting was enough penance for me to pay; he didn't throw up again. But then I got sick, just a cold, but a really nasty one that left me out of it for a week.

We were all good to go for a week or so after that point, until Friday afternoon when Jacob said his throat hurt really badly. His throat was red and angry for the rest of Friday, but he perked up with some medicine, so I thought maybe it was just a virus. Jacob's throat still hurt earlier today and when he started to cry about how badly it hurt, I took another peek. This time I saw the telltale white spots all over the place. By then the day was nearing a close, but I lucked out and found an urgent care in the area that was still open. We walked in with five minutes until they closed. The nurse swabbed his throat and said the culture started to turn blue the instant she tested it, which I guess means he was very, very positive for strep throat.

Four pharmacies later I found one open until 7pm and we had our Rx! It's only the second time Jacob's been on antibiotics, the first time being last year, for the same reason.

Anyway, the moral of the story: Eat raw garlic every chance you get (ideally one clove a day), take astragalus whenever you feel a cold coming on, or have been around others who are sick, and never, ever, EVER announce that you or your family just don't get sick.