When my children were younger and succumbed to winter colds and flu, it would break my heart to hear them with their croupy coughs and tired, ear-infection cries.
I would bundle them in warm blankets, buffering them with fluffy pillows and their favorite comfort toys. Cartoons would run on a continuous loop while they were awake. I would forego my own basic needs to hold them close until they would finally, sleep-deprived and miserable, fall into an uneasy slumber.
Then there is their father…
A man who disdainfully shuns modern medical technology. Who would have to have a dead, plague-blackened rat hanging from his gangrenous arm before he would do anything other than slather it with Neosporin™ and bandages. A man who is also the world’s worst Man Cold sufferer… no, scratch that. When he has a Man Cold…. I am the sufferer.
No matter the level of his sickness, he would have me believe that he is near death’s door, incapable of doing simple tasks. Reaching across the couch for the remote, walking ten feet into the kitchen for a glass of water, or tucking blankets around his own feverish legs would be beyond what his ailing body can accomplish.
More needy than any child.
That is…
Until now.
Heaven help me if I run out of Jolly Ranchers and Gatorade.
https://twitter.com/#!/Tara_R/status/166210228495462400
Submitted as part of Shell’s “Pour Your Heart Out” writing prompt at Things I Can’t Say. Please stop by to read the other posts, and give a little comment love.
Thin spiral notebook 
You know, I never thought of that. DAYUM! This time, I’ve got a few more years yet.
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Good luck with that! My hubs does the same! My favorite of all things though, is when asked if he gets up with the baby at night, he responds “No, Sara does, I need sleep and she can go with little or no sleep.”…. sometimes…. ha!
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Ha! Men really do get whiny when they are sick!
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Oh, dear. Eek!
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HAH! My husband refuses all medication too, and in addition, he has a “sick outfit.” I didn’t even realize this particular outfit and him being sick was a natural occurrence until our third year of marriage. Now as soon as I see him wearing his black sweatpants, hooded sweatshirt and knit cap (yes in the house), I know it’s got to be serious.
…and I sneak off in the other direction.
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*giggle* I’m with you on having the husband who can’t deal with being sick… and oh is he sick more often than the rest of us combined! It’s got to be a boy thing. Mister Man doesn’t get sick often – here’s hoping he doesn’t turn out the same way. Definitely stock up on the wine!
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From a very young age my son would get sick and walk around the house hunched like an old man saying, “Poor, poor Nicky” I have to admit that at three it was funny. Later, not so much.
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