Catch a cold in winter, and you’re among friends. “Drink green tea. Really. It’s amazing.” “My sister swears by zinc.” “Get some rest.” The corner drugstore is crowded with remedies in colorful boxes. How many tablets do you want? What flavor of cough drops do you like? Even the tissues sympathize and make themselves available with “gentle lotion” and “cooling mint” options. Time it right, and you can catch a sale, which lets you go home and recuperate with a sense of having made the best of it.
Catch a cold in the summer, though, and you are alone. “How did you catch a cold in this heat?” “Listen, stay away from me, I’m going on vacation next week.” The drugstore likewise shows little sympathy. The “cold remedy” aisle is almost dusty, offering only one brand of tablets and limited tissues. Don’t even think about a sale price. I can almost hear it scolding, “Sensible people catch their colds in the winter.”
So I’m home, alternating tea and TV reruns, watching my tissue supply dwindle, wondering how long these sniffles will last.
Maybe I should plan to get some sunburn in December.
Note: I wrote this in June 2018, pre-pandemic, on Facebook. I’m posting it here to archive it.