Swine Flu Does a Family Good

Yes, you heard it correct. The self professed germ freak, the women who wears hand sanitizer on her hip (not literally), is actually grateful for Swine Flu!

I'm going to admit something that is a bit embarrassing. I rarely cook for my family. Not because I can't, but because I just don't. I would prefer to run through the drive thru or order out. My husband's work schedule is crazy (we will leave that for another posting) and my kids are beyond picky eaters.

Which leads me to my point. As a self proclaimed germ freak (think Jack Nicholson in "As Good as it Gets") the whole Swine Flu episode put me in a tizzy. Our community was hit with confirmed cases, schools closing and I...the women who feared sickness, was a nervous wreck.

My oldest daughter has had the flu twice, and each time she developed pneumonia. One reason this new strain of flu stressed me to no end. I didn't want to see my baby girl get sick, nor did I want to see her suffering and unable to breathe. So I went into (as what my husband and kids would call) "Super Germ Freak Mode", otherwise known as "SGFM".

I did what I had to do...I sent my husband out to the grocery store, with a list. Not just any list. A three page list. A list unlike anything you have ever seen. A list so long, the poor man had to get two carts in order to make it to the check out line. Why you ask? Because as the Swine Flu starting spreading throughout our community, my SGFM sent me into protection mode. It was time to stop eating out!!!! I armed my husband with a list so long, that we could have fed a bunker filled with 100 people for ten years. You might as why? Here is my rationalization for this: Sick person hands credit card to server, server touches my food, plate, drink glass, my credit card, or worse, server is sick...coughs in hands and then touches something my family is about to consume (I told you I was a freak). I simply couldn't allow this to happen.

For the last three weeks - this Mom, the self proclaimed germ freak. The woman who wears a fanny pack with 10 tubes of hand sanitizer (not literally, but you know the saying "there is truth to every joke) has cooked each and every night!

Now to lead with irony. Come to find out, the H1N1 virus was not as bad as anticipated. Still, I remain vigilant. I wash my hands 100 times a day (this is my normal routine, not because of the oink oink flu), use my hand sanitizer...but now...I have also taken the stance of not eating out (McDonalds phoned me yesterday to say that they have fallen into a recession, and they need their best customers back).

Avoid eating out....A phrase I never thought I would say...but this mother of two - has done just that. A mother who felt guilty for feeding her children junk, a mother who wondered why I couldn't get it together and make a meal for her family each night...is now an accomplished chef (okay, a bit exaggeration - considering I have made a frozen pizza a time or two).

Even though I have lifted the household ban of eating out - I find that I don't want to. I'm proud of myself - I'm proud of my family for sucking it up, and eating my less than stellar grub. I don't want to fall back into the old rut of relying on someone else to feed my family....So, we continue to eat at home, we continue to stuff our faces each night as a family... and me...Well, I continue to thank the Swine Flu for invading our community and scarring me into changing my ways.