Being Sick

I woke up this morning with a sore throat and currently feel light-headed and achy all at once. Yuck.

This reminds me of the first time I ever got sick away from home. I was a freshman at Penn, and I thought I was going to die. I just lay in bed with a high fever and wanting my mom. I was miserable. My mom is a pediatrician, so she always took care of my sisters and me when we got sick. Being sick away from home was my first real rude awakening that I had become an adult, that I needed to take care of myself, and that being sick was no longer a day off from life.

Funny how being sick as a kid got me out of my responsibilities. I didn't have to study or attend school or go to soccer practice or go to tennis lessons. It was a mini-vacation, and I LOVED getting sick. Even in college, I had to take care of myself and any case studies or tests that were coming up, but I still had the option of staying in bed all day and vegging. Now, as a pseudo-student/adult, I can't shun my daily responsibilities anymore. I went to work this morning, went grocery shopping (since we haven't gone food shopping in over two weeks!) during the bizzaro blizzard in the middle of March, and am about to start studying soon after I finish this blogpost. Being sick is now just something to work through instead of something to embrace and almost celebrate.

Getting older stinks. I can add this to my long list of reasons why I don't want to grow up. :)