A Pox on thee -

"I'm getting chicken pox for Christmas
"Mommy and Daddy are glad
"I'm getting chicken pox for Christmas
"I have been nothing but sad.


The girl has the pox.  I wasn't sure when I sent her to her dad.  Low grade fever and one unfamiliar looking spot, possibly and ant-bite, maybe a flea (she slept with the cat).  I was on my way to picking her up yesterday morning to take her to gym, when her dad called.  Oh - yeah, it's chicken pox for sure.


She told me she has 59 spots.  She is counting because it is really, really boring.  It also keeps her mind off scratching.  Last night she was over 85, does not care about counting, and is not sure if wearing socks on her hands would help.

This is actually perfect timing.  She is not missing any school.  Her dad is not working, and it is his week with her, so I am not interrupting my suddenly busy work schedule.  She will be better in a week, and life will go on.  I still miss her.  I also feel totally responsible, I'm the one that allowed (requested?) the infected child to come to our house and hug and kiss on my daughter.  It is a little old fashioned, countrified, and archaic to intentionally expose a child to a disease that she could be vaccinated for, but, the alternative is to risk her exposure when she is older, and I have been through that hell.  


I got the pox at 18, on the way to a family reunion with my dad.  Just the two of us, I think my mom wanted us to "connect."  

 I found one oddly ithcy spot on the way up to Everett (Washington), by the time we got there, I was practically comatose with a raging fever.  3 days of oblivion.  Itchy.  Fevered. Delirious.  I did not know any of my cousins well, and they saw this as an opportunity.  I have very dim memories of lying on a couch with a TV on and MANY small children swarming around me.  I think, perhaps I am exaggerating, but I remember being locked in a room with no  escape, so that the children would get exposed while young and hearty.


Anyway - I was not exactly expecting for the girl to actually get sick.  The exposure was brief, and toward the end of the infected child's out break, and I really hate it when the girl is ill, and not with me.   So - here I am feeling guilty right before Christmas.  Hey - maybe I am more normal than I realize.