Word of Mouth in the coffee shop today: A small factoid about the 21 Gun Salute. Two men bantering back and forth to me about who is going to tell me about it. Finally one of them says that its been dragged out and he may as well just tell me....to which the 2nd guy says that well, he didn't actually retain the information that he was given in the last half hour. Finally the barista tells me: In 1776 they invented the 21 gun salute for people in the military as the numbers 1+7+7+6 = 21. Ta dah!
Made sense to me mathematically, so I was able to go home with one less thing to ponder.
I am working from home today. Humanling's school is not out yet. Their last day is Friday. Last week I checked their website looking for calendar information in order to figure out what days were half days so that I could plan accordingly and not receive that dreadful phone call about accidentally forgetting and having my child bussed over all town only to be regurgitated back at the school when no one was outside waiting for her. It has happened. I am running to be the worst mom in this town. Along with weirdest and most paranoid.
While checking the website, I see a notification for the H whatever with a 1, an F and possible an N in it....my brain quickly puts it together as the swine flu code. I checked out the notice and this was as of last Friday....one kid with a confirmed case and is back in school. This school has only 2 grades in it so it isn't that big. I called the school to confirm that they are cleaning. They said cleaning as usual, nothing different. I asked if they dealt with the keyboards on the computers in the library and the gym equipment. I didn't get a real answer to that....which leads me to think that I'm in the wrong business. I should be running a cleaning company! So I figured, ok don't panic. The principal tells me that only one other kid is out with a flu but not sure if it is the same. So I sent Humanling to school on Monday and Tuesday this week.
She came home from school yesterday telling me that her friend told her that they think her brother has the swine flu. Since it wasn't one of the kids that I typically know to be a bit with dramatic flair, I produced one sweat bead over it. People who know me - I don't actually sweat hardly at all....so that was like a bucket.
I didn't want to call the school again and sound paranoid so I called my stepdad and verbally scripted him, gave him the number and waited for his call back. The school was closed so I checked the website again. Apparently five more kids were out with a flu but were awaiting test results. As well, they indicated that a few more kids were out sick.
I am a germophobe. I developed a thick skin a long time ago when I was unpopular for hating rides at the amusement park as a kid. So no amount of teasing or mocking me is going to have an effect on my actions. I simply don't care what other people think when it comes to what is important to me. All I know is that under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be much fun and mixing it with epilepsy just sounds like a bad idea.
I made up my mind and looked at Humanling and said, "You're last day of school was today." She only had 2 and a half days left. And was going to be off anyway for one of them while I go to NY to scout out wedding locales with El. Humanling is pretty versed in hygiene. She knows what the rules are as far as that goes and that's not what I'm worried about. She's still only ten and is a tiny kid who other kids love to pick up and take her by the hand and pull her around the playground. She also has a habit of touching her face constantly. I would probably have a bee on my lips and still would be looking around for a clean tissue to remove it.
So....am I paranoid? Of course. But I'm also realistic. Seven plus kids getting sick within a week in a small school? Not going to chance it. All that she will miss is the small buffet on Friday and she can't eat anything off of there anyway. Nor would I want her to at this point with all the hands on everything. Eeeek! That's my version of hell. Or one of the many that I've conjured up.
Other versions include potatoes left to their own devices in a dark cabinet for 4 months and reaching in unbeknowest and touching all the sprouts.
But enough about me.
Today our show on Scorpion Equinox is going to feature Angelica Harris along with Corey Blake in the 2nd half hour! Angelica has quite the journey, having a husband and son both afflicted with Tourette's syndrome. She wrote a book, "Excalibur Reclaims Her King" and her website is www.angelicaharris.com. Should be very interesting!!!
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