Sick Kids in Public

That was the title of a recent post I made to a local Internet chatboard for moms. Here's the rest of the message:

"Coughing in my face. WHY??!?!?!?! For the first time in a few weeks,
everybody in my house was feeling well. So on Monday we went to the new First
Impressions room at Impression 5. And a little boy who was obviously sick
coughed in my face. After his germy little hands had been all over the toys that
every other little kid was playing with. Grrrrrr. Then on Tuesday, Bela and I
went to the library to get some more books and return ours. And another
obviously sick kid is coughing on the toys. Well, lo and behold, Bela spiked a
fever of 101.6 Wednesday night and now has a gnarly cough; today my chest is
hurting. WTF?????!!!!??? Seriously. It cannot be fun for the kids to be there -
and we're talking about optional places, not the grocery store or some other
public location where it might be more understandable that a kid is dragged out
to do necessary errands. Yes, it sucks to be trapped at home with sick kids in
the winter BUT GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am mad, mad, mad. Am I alone? What
are these moms thinking???? Do you ever say anything when you see a child who
should obviously be home in bed, recuperating? What about people with
compromised immune systems - do these people think about them when they
cavalierly go about spreading their germiness?????????????"

Raaaaaarrrrrr! This message was, appropriately, posted under "Rants."

My head is still killing me. I think I might have a sinus infection but I refuse to see the doctor until my new insurance begins next month. Oh, and Bela ended up with her first ear infection - in both ears!!!

Anyway, there's a lot more to that post than a mom who's [ed. note: I had to correct this because I wrote it as "whose" the first time. Oi! Good thing I'm about to be a text editor.] mad about some little kid germs. I was pissed that I was going to miss brunch with my brother-in-law from Chicago and my parent-in-laws who had just gotten back from sunny Florida. I felt low for depriving my dear, sweet husband of time with those people who are so important to him. I felt like I hadn't adequately protected my little girl from illness. And I was sick. Also a little self-righteous as I have lately become acutely aware of how fragile some immune systems are.

But, I tell you what: the next time I see someone with an obviously sick kid blowing germs all over my family, I'm gonna let my inner bitch out to play all over their caretaker.