XMAS FEAR

It happens every year, the fear of coming down with something during or just before the Christmas Holiday. It usually starts when I get the request to play Santa at the Holiday Dance for people with disabilities.

At the Holiday Dance, over 350 people line up for a picture with Santa. He sits in a chair and in his red costume, sweats to death as all the participants line up, swing their arm around him and sometimes kissing Santa, and so the spittle flies.

This makes me paranoid and so I worry as a dancer after dancer comes by, telling me up close what they want and being very emphatic about it.

This year we tried something different, TLW (The Little Woman), came home with a cold, a real winner. Each day her cold got worse, each day she coughed harder and louder. I couldn't believe my luck, no symptoms. I got her tea, medications and did what I could and nothing, I was passed it, Scott, free of her cold.

Off I go to the Holiday Dance, sit through the ordeal and nothing! Nothing! That was Friday, then there was Saturday and Sunday. I wake up Monday and my sinus feels like it is dried-out. Then the cold came on, slowly at first without too many symptoms. By Wednesday, I was ready to call my kids to say goodbye, I was leaving this world.

The good news is, I'll be better for Christmas!