"This too shall pass." It's a phrase we hear often when people can't understand what we're going through. It isn't for lack of empathy or sympathy. I truly believe that most of the time, when we find ourselves in a less-than-desirable situation, others can relate because they have 'been there' in some way. Still, when we're the ones going through a hard season, it seems like we're the only ones in the world experiencing it. The reality is that life often looks much bleaker than we realize for so many. 

Last week, my youngest came home on a Friday with a stomach bug. It's apparently going around the country and hitting some cities and states harder than others. North Carolina just so happens to be one of those states. Yippee! 

While my middle girl had the tummy bug last Friday/Saturday, the rest of us seemed okay until late Sunday night when it hit my son, and then hit our youngest (who's just 17 months old) on Monday. On Tuesday afternoon, my middle girl came home from school with conjunctivitis (pink eye), which has hit nearly every school and daycare in our county- we even had to wait for the prescription eyedrops to be restocked because the whole county has pink eye right now. What!? 

I awoke with the tummy bug on Thursday and it took a solid 48 hours for me to recover. I haven't felt so run-down and awful since I had Covid in October. On Saturday, both big kids woke up with colds, and the littlest one woke up with pink eye. As we laid down to go to sleep Saturday night, my husband and I both felt like our throats were getting sore, and we just really needed a good night's sleep... but the baby of the bunch is teething, has a cough, and ultimately kept us up all night.

Today, we won't be going to church like we usually do... we'll be staying far away from others as not to share these germs. They seem to follow my kids everywhere they go, despite washing hands until they're raw, sanitizing everything in sight, etc. When kids are in school with 600+ other kids, five days a week, all bets are off, right?

My doctor said she hopes that this will all even back out in another year or two. I just chuckled at the thought of two more years of this mess because we've had all the things this year, and I can't imagine spending another year or two being so sick all the time. I know we're not the only ones- many families are battling this, too, and it will pass... it'll just take time for our immune systems to build themselves back up after masking and isolation.

This too shall pass. It has to... because I am so tired, and I know you must be, too.

Hang in there, friend.