Memory Challenge, Childhood sickness

On one of the author blogs I follow, the blogger has a weekly memory challenge, and today's was a little interesting. Maybe I'm just anxious to write, take a break from all the re-writing I'm doing. There is really so much a difference.

The memory challenge is this--what do you remember about being sick as a kid?
I remember when I had the chicken pox I was allowed to sleep on the hide-a-bed in the living room, and that I didn't have to go to school--kindergarten I believe. Unless I'm remembering when someone else had them. But it was pretty cool to sleep on the hide-a-bed. And then stay on it all day. Right there in the middle of the living room where everyone has to see you and feel sorry for you. Those red dots all over were pretty sweet too.

Reading about kids who got ice cream and pudding and stuff made me kind of wish I could get my tonsils out or something, but I was never that lucky. I actually had a pretty healthy childhood, didn't miss much school. I did miss a day in 3rd grade though. I don't remember what it was, probably just a cold or something. But the teacher still gave me a perfect attendance award at the end of the year. And that actually made me sad--she hadn't missed me, I thought.

Then in fourth grade, I had this, um, issue, I guess. It wasn't really sickness. I had warts. I know I counted them at the time, but I don't remember exactly how many--in the range of 10, I think, though most were pretty small. Three or four were pretty big though. Getting those frozen off, though--that little "surgery" wasn't anything like getting your tonsils out. This was just embarrassing. But I still got a day off for it. And this time, I didn't want to stay on the hide-a-bed in the middle of the living room. As soon as I got home, I went straight to my own bed and cried myself to sleep. Oh that hurt really bad. I might have got pudding or something. I don't remember. I just remember it hurt, really bad.

Other things I remember about being sick was that if you stayed home from school you couldn't play with your friends later, so you'd better really be sick if you wanted the day off. Sometimes I felt better at the end of the day, but I learned to suck it up. What about you? What are you memories about being sick?


I have to add this post script that my mother emailed me: So it seems I wasn't in kindergarten. But I do remember the couch. Funny. Maybe it was coming home to it when the others had it, or maybe a combination. A three-year-old can have memories, but since it was so long ago, it also makes sense that it would be jumbled a bit:

The Quist family endured the chicken pox twice. The first time was in Canada before John was born. One child got it and two weeks later the other three did. So in about a month’s time all four of my kids had chicken pox. If you do the math, you’ll know that you had chicken pox as a three year old, more or less six months. It’s interesting that during this same month, Kim had rubella, otherwise called German measles.

The second round was in Loveland when Nancy was two months old. One child came down with it and two weeks later the other three(including Nancy) got it.

So, your hide-a-bed confinement, if it was chicken pox, would have been in Calgary.

Logic? You bet. I do sudoku.