I've been woods sick...

It’s not quite that time of year, that I get something and I'm not sure if it's a cold or allergies OR the flu. Everybody is getting the flu and I didn't get a shot, so naturally I was worried. But I never had a fever, never barfed or that other TMI. So no flu.

"Woods sick" is a new term I picked up from Christopher. He used this term last year when I made him and his sleepover friend go on a nature trail walk with me. During the walk he said, "I think I'm going to be woods sick." This had nothing to do with allergies, and everything to do with boys wanting to get back to their Xbox game and promise to get along while doing so.

So last weekend when we were home visiting my parents, daddy, Christopher and I went to skip rocks. That's their thing and sometimes I go along for the ride. It's kind of a family tradition now, so I feel bad if I don't go. My good throw last week was a rock that skipped three times. I think my record is five. My bad throw hit a tree to my left. Note to anyone, when you skip rocks with me, stand to my right. So daddy said,

"Your mom is pretty good at this when she doesn't throw like a girl."

We had fun. We collected a half bucket full of rocks (too many) and ventured out to three "wood surrounded" lakes. This time around was the first time Christopher successfully skipped a rock. I said, "Pretend you going to roll a bowling ball over the water", and he got it! Twice. And then he pouted because he couldn't do it again. I was about to get mommy mad and say. "Let's go if you are going to pout about rocks", and the excellent with kids granddaddy created a diversion. We played see who can throw the farthest, make the biggest splash, hit that bark, and throw the most rocks at one time (which helped to get rid of the rocks). The adults arms were hurting. So finally we were out of rocks and everyone was happy. 

As soon as we made it back to the house, I felt the familiar "woods sick" in my eyes. By that evening I was blowing my nose. The next day we got on the road to head home. By the time I went to bed that night I had the full blown snots. I was officially woods sick. The day after that, I had the serious aches. Was it the flu? No, it was isolated to the out of shape rock throwing arm and every muscle I used in my back to throw the farthest. It cost me some extra aches for being the winner of "hit that bark".

On the third night of being woods sick, when I was desperate enough to consider going to the doctor the next day, I rummaged through our medicine cabinet for something - ANYTHING. Everything I had previously tried wasn't working. My nose was shut down. I found a prescription bottle with 4 tablets left from the last time I went to the doctor. It was issued 02/03/12 with a discard date of 02/03/13. I took one and had THE BEST nights sleep.

So I assume I've been woods sick. We had a warm winter last year and stuff started blooming early. I will usually go to the doctor after I've wasted a bunch of money on over the counter stuff and say to the doctor, "I don't know if I have a cold or allergies."

Here's the thing... I'll let my dad's birthday weekend be a reminder to be on the lookout for woods sick symptoms. I'll ask my doctor in advance for the call in favor for LOHIST-12D so I won't have to switch to GEICO to get out of Walgreen's over the counter stuff debt.