A Pox on Our House

Seriously, I'm starting to think that we are becoming a high-frequency illness family. This isn't usually the case, but this past year it really has been! BJ has just departed for a business trip to Virginia, and I suppose who can blame him for leaving since Silas and I have both been cranky? A trip to the doctor's office today revealed that Silas has his first ear infection, which is why he began running fever yesterday. Despite getting my flu shot like the responsible citizen that I am, the doctor assures me that I quite likely had the flu when I was sick all week last week, and that it has settled into what is now an upper respiratory infection. When I protested, "But I got my flu shot!" he lamely replied, "That doesn't seem to mean much this year." Grr. Needless to say, Silas and I are both on antibiotics.  This reminds me of three years ago when I got my flu shot but actually contracted a second strain of the flu which kept me out of work for the entire week. Thankfully (and this is a very big thankfully), it does not appear as though Silas got the flu...an ear infection is bad enough! I can hear him coughing from his crib right now. The Orange Bowl is on, and though I love college football with all that I am, I am going to have to retire early tonight.

The title of today's entry comes of course from Arthur Miller's The Crucible. I believe it is Giles Corey that shouts the curse "A pox on your house!" as he is being crushed to death by stones, although memory may not serve me correctly. I read this play as a junior in high school, and in my 17-year-old ways I just thought it was hilarious that he would shout a curse that sounds so silly. Of course, I didn't live 400 years ago, so maybe it was taken more seriously back then. But while we're on the subject of Arthur Miller, I may as well share my favorite quote of his which, incidentally, is not "A pox on your house!" When asked why he wrote The Crucible, part of Arthur Miller's well-composed response was "What terrifies one generation is likely to bring only a puzzled smile to the next." The quote needs no follow-up from me. Thank you, Arthur Miller, for this bit that I have hung on to for the last who knows how many years.