Closed For Flu

When I drooped Aaron off at school on Monday, there was a third grade teacher in the hall saying, "I only have two kids in my classroom today". I knew things were looking bleak for Tuesday. Which was a problem since Aaron's field trip to the pumpkin patch was that day and he would not be happy if he couldn't go.

Then I got a recorded message from the principal that night. While the other schools with 25 percent absenteeism were closing, he decided to keep Aaron's school open. Huge relief! But when I dropped Aaron off, I asked the secretaries what the absenteeism was for Tuesday. When she told me it was about the same, I knew the inevitable was coming. And when I got home from work last night, there was the recorded message from the principal again, this time closing school for the remainder of the week.

I have several thoughts on this matter.

The first is of a complete selfish nature. I didn't realize how precious those few hours have become. I am kind of stressing over how to fill an entire day with Aaron every day for the rest of the week. And how to keep my house clean when that is when I do everything. The media states that any child whose school has closed for flu should be kept home at risk of infecting other kids.

But my kid isn't sick, so why do we have to stay home?

The next thought related to this is this: If 30 percent of the student population is sick, causing school to close and my kid isn't sick, does that mean that when school comes back into session next week, MY kid will finally come down with this stinkin' bug? I told Hubby last night that I would rather Aaron was sick now while school is out than wait to see. Especially with his birthday coming up this weekend. If he misses his Chuck E Cheese party on Saturday for illness, then we still have to pay, and he would be so sad.

So we sit here and begin the waiting game. Will the flu start it's trek through our home? Or will we all continue to just cough our way through life and stay minimally healthy. I guess I am not so concerned about whether it's THE FLU or not. Whatever virus sweeps through our home, we'll just deal with it, nailing symptoms as they come and weathering the storm.

I am really glad though that we still got to go on Aaron's field trip yesterday. Although only 12 kids were at school, it was still a fun little trip. 1 little girl got bitten (grazed) by a horse in the petting coral, but the donuts were yummy and all the kids picked out cute little pumpkins.

So I am now headed downstairs to exercise, take a shower, give Aaron his piano lesson (I forgot last week), and then I think we'll surprise Noah at school by bringing him a special lunch. Then we'll head to the party store to get some stuff for goody bags for his party on Saturday.

We're not going to let a virus stop us until we have to!