A Little Bit of History

Dear Jack,

As a historian, I am fascinated by the idea that we are living through what will become your history. What will look back on as significant moments? What shared experiences will define your generation?

Will you heard people asking, for example, if you were alive during the H1N1 influenza outbreak of aught nine?

You were, of course. And we recently had your H1N1 "scare." Of course, by "scare" I mean a very overly cautious nurse practitioner calling your 102.4 degree fever a sign of flu (among other things) and giving you a flu test (which cost $35) and then reading a barely (if at all) visible red line as a positive test result.

Out of respect (and maybe concern) for all the other babies and older folks in our lives, we kept you from daycare for three days and didn't take you up to church.

A quarantine, really, is what I am describing.

After 24 hours, your fever broke, to be followed by a reduction in appetite and copious amounts of drool.

Last night, I thought I felt a little bump in your lower gum.

So there you have it. Your H1N1 story.

Or possibly, the story of how you started cutting your first tooth.

Love,
Mom