Keeping heathy

I managed to get out for a run last Saturday when the temperatures managed to climb above zero. It was great to get out and breathe some fresh air and run along the water. Its really the best mental and physical therapy I could ask for.

Hopefully the weather will warm up a bit and I can continue to run, as my CrossFit box, along with all gyms across the Island, has been closed for the foreseeable future. The mat and the weight above are my only tools to keep healthy and strong while stuck inside.

I’m asymptomatic; I assume it’s just a bad chest cold, the kind that keeps you awake all night with incessant coughing, so I’ll be staying home, avoiding the office and practicing social distancing as instructed. Social distancing has from my perspective been the norm this past year, partially due to my introverted ways and partially due to the fact that we don’t know many people here. There are never crowds anywhere, and Charlottetown in winter is bereft of people. It will be an interesting summer without the tourists to fill the streets.

This chest cold is a good reminder of the ferocity of viruses. We have been through so many different outbreaks over the years, developed excellent preventative methods, and live as healthy a lifestyle as one can. Yet, a virus may spare no one. Hence our whole household is suffering.

My son get sick first and I’m sure I said some stupid remark that the rest of us were unaffected because we have been eating better, or some such nonsense I say to goad my son to make better food choices.

I should have learned this lesson years ago. When the kids were still little and we were living in a house located in a dank alley in Hsinchu downtown, a virus swept through the house. It was unbelievably horrible, with uncontrollable diarrhea and vomiting, accompanied by high fever. Each one us succumbed in order, like falling dominoes. At one time I was the last one standing when I foolishly joked that I must be the strongest in the family. Shortly after, I got sick, it hit you so hard and fast you could feel the transformation, and I was practically unconscious in bed for 15 hours, leaving Sheryl, the one who is truly strongest, alone to care for the recovery of the kids.