20150211.0753

That colds and other diseases travel through households is plain to me. I have the cold that the Mrs. brought home from the pharmacy and passed to Ms. 8 before our daughter decided to share with Daddy. I am glad she already shares, but I think she needs to learn to keep a few things to herself. I a on the mend, though, and it is not as if I have not worked because my nose is a mucus-faucet and my body suffering other symptoms of whatever virus this happens to be. I wrote two freelance pieces yesterday, and I have more writing to do today--including work on a short piece to be delivered electronically for the Tolkien Days event in Ohio (I only need to come up with five to ten minutes of material, so I ought not to have a problem) and more in the way of job applications (I have been getting interviews, so I am doing something right with them).

Working through illness is something to which I am accustomed by familial and academic experience. Something my grandmother said about her own father's comments--something to the effect of "I don't feel better staying in bed, so I might as well work"--comes to mind for me, as does an episode from early in my wonderful relationship with my most excellent wife. I believe I have noted when I contracted mono; the woman who is now my Mrs. nursed me through the experience, to my great benefit (in several regards). While amid the worst symptoms, I remained largely in my dorm room--and my then-friend and now-wife brought me the coursework I would otherwise have been missing. Somehow, I managed to translate passages of Beowulf and complete quizzes on them while running a high fever and watching pink elephant people try to take my shoes. After that, laying out from work seems less acceptable.

I am not at full, admittedly. I did not write in this webspace yesterday, after all, and the freelance work I did was of limited scope. My nose yet runs, and my body does not want to move as I know it ought to do. Nor yet am I as quick on the uptake as I normally am, although that may be because I have not had as much coffee, partly as a result of sleeping later than I normally would have done. But I am just arrogant enough to note that even off of my best, I am pretty damned good, and since I am thus good, I will be returning to work today, striding into classroom after classroom to try to lead students to better understanding, sitting at my computer to write more words for the edification of others and paychecks for me. There is really no excuse for me not to do so, and the reasons for me to work long remain as they ever have been. The Mrs. and Ms. 8 deserve no less--and, indeed, a great deal more.