Early 2020 – Someone in the news is now urging people to wash their hands to avoid disease transmission. That’s just what we do around here and consider normal behavior.
The US news now adds that citizens over the age of 60, (like us) or (unlike us) who have underlying health issues, should start taking additional precautions, like NOT interacting with “sick” people. Oh, oh.
When I first heard about the Corona virus two sick grandkids were nearby, a one (1) and a three (3) year old. Both had me cornered by our diagonal sofa. Trying to stay away from these two was not easy. Anywhere I moved, the little one fast crawled towards me. I tried hiding, placing the dog between me as a shield, and turning on the air purifier.
I recall those tiny little coughs, and those dripping snotty noses spreading germs all over our home but; this was just a normal sick. Something we used to call a common “cold”. The two little guys were on a mucus-making overdrive. Apparently, according to GramPatti that’s not a bad thing. She says that in order to keep the germ invaders out of their lungs this is also normal. You know what happens then: The mucus runs down their tiny little throats, out the nose, or any of the dozen throw pillows now on this couch. I guess this is a good thing, otherwise it would either fall on a tissue or run back down their little sinuses.
And sometimes they have allergies: Kids who have allergies also get runny noses when they’re around (pollen or our chocolate lab Lucy. That’s because their tiny little bodies are now reacting to these things like if they’re germs.
And when either of them cry, like Wyatt is now doing; I can watch the tears flowing out of his tear glands, running down under his eyelids and then draining through those tear ducts before mixing in with all that mucus before the gushing out of his tiny little nose. Help!
Enter the Coronavirus Darth Vader grandpa protection posture version 1.0. Under these extreme circumstances this was the best I could do.
Think you have your hands full? Try taking care of a toddler in a body cast.
Grandparents are a family’s greatest treasure, for they are the founders of a loving legacy, the greatest of storytellers, the keepers of traditions that linger on into ever lasting and cherished memories.
Happy Father’s Day 2021
Trawlercat
Trawlercat Blog Dispatches 