This past week I have had, for lack of a better term, the Crud:  Nasty cold, coughing, headache and tired.  I am on the tail end of it, thankfully.  My husband and little one (three year old Camdyn) have had it right alongside me.   As a 7th and 8th grade teacher, I have gone to school many times like today when I feel like I should be home, on the couch, with a remote in one hand and a tissue in the other.  That's not realistic, though.  Just like many of my colleagues you go unless you are really bad.  The bad part is, you still have to do your job 100%.  I still have to give instructions, explain things 27 times, write bathroom passes and grade papers.

The military is the same way.  There really aren't sick days in training or combat unless you're near unconscious.  I remember once in Basic Training I got really sick.  It was a Sunday, and we had some time when we were supposed to be studying or cleaning.  You never were allowed to just lie around and rest.  I was passed out on the bottom bunk asleep. I had been really dizzy and nauseous.  As if in a dream, or really more like a nightmare, I was abruptly awoken by a fierce individual with a Smoky the Bear hat.  He immediately started screaming in my face and yelling at me to do flutter kicks, a form of self-imposed torture where you lay on your back and move the full length of your legs up and down until the drill sergeant gets tired.  I tried to sit up, and my roommates tried to explain to him that I truly was ill.  The drill sergeant realized that I wasn't just being lazy.  They thought it was food poisoning from the tuna casserole that day, and I was sent to the hospital.

I'd love to hear when YOU had to perform your duties while ill, because I am sure this happened to many of you.  Share a memory in the forum, and select "All in a Day's Work" or whatever category you deem most appropriate.

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