March 16, 2010. Mexico. Colds.

It drives Suzanne nuts. Christina too. It is our system for getting rid of a cold or any other minor illness. The good part is that eventually the cold goes away without any fuss or muss, the bad part is that sometimes things deteriorate into a more severe illness requiring the Doctor's help.

The system is simple. I just do not acknowledge the fact that I have a cold even though I sound awful. I take Ibuprofen every four hours to keep myself going, then proceed with my tasks. I never mention the cold and when asked how I am feeling I say "I am fine". It works just fine. In two days the cold is gone.

The first week we were in Mexico, I caught a cold, probably on the airplane down. Using my old system, no one even knew I was fighting a cold, even Ken. Many years ago, someone at work asked me my system for handling distress. It caused me to reflect and finally decided that both parents carried on with their tasks, even when they were not in top form. I further reflected that perhaps that was not wise, as my Father died at 62 and my Mother at 74, so now I use Ken's system for everything except colds. The biggest part is not to make a fuss, and keep reminding the immune system to get to work. It works for me and apparently does Andrew and David.