I Visited Pennsylvania and All I Got Was This Lousy Head Cold

Okay. Maybe I got more out of my homecoming than just sinus congestion, but it certainly put a damper on otherwise warm remembrances of dinner with friends and time spent with family.

My visit was the first in 18 months and scheduled--I thought--to coincide with the turning of fall. Alas, I was a few weeks too early for the foliage, but the temperatures had begun to fall—a balmy low to mid-70s pretty much all week. Ultimately, missing the leaves changing was least of my disappointments.

I arrived in Pennsylvania on a Monday, noticed an itch in my throat that next Sunday, and bloomed a fever come the following Monday. On Tuesday—just in time for the return flight—my head felt as clogged as a drain after a Wookie takes a shave.

To that man with a backpack who sat in 12C on the nonstop from Baltimore to Phoenix … my apologies. Message me via MySpace for the home number of the party responsible for my untimely cold so that you might prank call him/her at your convenience. It is worth mentioning that my other half surrendered the window seat so as to put some distance between me and him.

I was due back at work the next day, and despite the prescription of staying home if you’re sick and the past contrition of sick coworkers (see the No, Really, I Feel Perfectly Fine! blog from January 2011), I rolled into work with a noggin full of cold medicine, a box of tissue, and a baggie of cough and cold remedies. Not cool.

I know why I came in—equal parts stubbornness and the misgiving that taking a sick day after a vacation would appear suspicious. Was it the ethical or even the wise decision? No. Sick days are meant to be used when you’re sick. To quote Judy from a conversation I overheard today—“don’t be a hero.”

Translation: HIT THE BRICKS, SICKLY!

Or as it relates to the situation heretofore mentioned, KEEP AWAY, VECTOR!

I'll remember that next time.