The Price of Community

Anyone who knows me well, will attest to the fact that I’m a bit of a germaphobe.  I’m the mom who makes sure her kids don’t touch anything in a public washroom except toilet paper, tap water and paper towel.   I wipe down handles, light switches, railings and toys more than often.  I switch my dish rags and hand towels regularly.  I do not like paying for food with coin or touching the buttons of an interac machine and then eating without washing my hands.  If one of us is sick my already vigilant hand washing regiment kicks into overdrive with continual reminders to cough or sneeze into your elbow.

However, despite all of my precautions, our family still gets sick; colds, flu’s, pink eye- you name it we get it.  So why is my family so susceptible to illness.  Well, despite the fact that we have wonderful cases of immune deficiencies such as asthma, allergies and anaphylaxis in our family, we are also a highly social family.  School, neighbours and friends fill up so much of our time that we are bound to cross paths with some unwanted bugs along the way.

Right now I’m experiencing increased neuroticism towards contracting viruses as we have a fairly new baby in our household.  We’ve already gone through two flu’s, one cold, and a single case of pneumonia since his introduction to the world, but we’ve survived.  As much as I hate my family being sick, I know that many times it the price we pay for community.  I can take my precautions, but I can’t stop our family from building relationships and interacting with those around us.

My hands may be raw from hand washing, but I refuse to let go of our community for the sake of reduced illnesses.

Everything has it’s price, lol.

P.S. Don’t forget to sneeze into your elbow.