Grumpy Gus

I should never congratulate (gloat) that the cold/flu/virus/skin condition of the week at my school has "not gotten" me yet. Because sure a' shootin' that's when it hits. I feel terrible. Stuffy nose, aching body, heavy elephant-sitting-on-my-chest feeling. I took two days off. And I went back today only because I had two teachers from another school coming to watch me teach a reading intervention I've been doing for the past couple of years. Me. That's craaaazy. But it was sure a nice compliment that they wanted to come watch me teach. I hope I did a good job. I'm not sure because I sounded like Jabba the Hutt and I moved about as fast. I'm pretty sure I looked a bit like him (er-it) as well.

But what I'm really getting to here is:

Courtesy. I had several people say things like "you sure have been sick a lot this year", and "thank god you're back, yesterday was awful." Not the best thing to come back to, perhaps a "how are you feeling" or "I hope you're feeling better" would have been more appropriate. And I (for the record) did get several of those comments, but it just made the other kind make me feel all the worse. I have taken 4 sick days this year, not a lot. And I have 225 sick hours in stockpile, which tells you that I really do not abuse, or even really use, my sick days. So, no, I don't feel the first comment was nice or needed, or even very accurate. And to make me feel even more guilty about being gone by telling me your day was awful and to insinuate that it was all my fault, well, it just makes it worse. I feel terrible when I'm not at work. I don't even usually take my personal days (I get 2 per year) and no one else seems to feel badly about taking theirs. I want to be at work, not because it makes someone else's day easier (although I do like to help folks) but because I have kids who miss out on valuable learning when I'm gone. And that's my focus. The kids and their learning.

I guess you could say that I am very very grumpy today. It is because I don't feel well, and because I didn't feel very good about going back into a situation where people were not nice to me. Granted, not everyone is going to be nice to you in this life, some people will be downright rude. But I try not to comment on other people's use of sick days - even when I know they're in Hawaii, because I don't know the details. I just know that if I am sick, you will find me in bed, with the covers pulled up, sleeping it off. And when I return, a simple, "hope you're feeling better" almost always helps me do just that.