So the H1N1 flu is off running around the country, making people sick. I don’t think anybody at my work has gotten it yet, but some people have been out sick so I may be wrong on that.

In any case, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my health and the health of those around me. Specifically, diseases, illnesses and viruses. I’ve always felt very good about my immune system. When I was really young, I think I got sick more than your average child, and I had ear infections from here to kingdom come. But nowadays, I just don’t get sick much.

I get four sick days at work per year, and I tend to use all of them. I’ve never had to use two in a row, and usually the reason I’ll use a sick day is because I’m worried about getting my coworkers sick. When I get sick, it’s not very bad. The worst I’ve been in the last few years was food poisoning, and that’s not even a virus. I just don’t get hit hard at all, really. My concern is usually with spreading disease at work, so I’ll stay home to save my coworkers.

Whenever Laura gets sick, it’s worse than me. Usually she’ll get hit first, and I’m not entirely sure why. But she’ll get hit and it’ll be bad, and when I get it, it’s about half as bad and half as long. Sometimes she’ll get sick and I won’t. Hell, for nearly a week until very recently, I thought I was getting sick because my throat felt like it was on the early stages of a cold, but it never materialized and now my throat is back to normal. Maybe that wasn’t a virus, maybe my throat was just irritated at something, but you get the point.

Anyway, all of this immune system introspection has brought me to wonder why my immune system is strong despite my storied medical background. Honestly, I think it’s because I was exposed to all sorts of crap when I was a kid.

I got sick a lot as a kid, thus I was exposed to all sorts of viruses. Perhaps I’ve built up a tolerance as a result. I also got into all sorts of outdoors trouble when I lived in Clovis, New Mexico. I’d get cuts, I’d do all sorts of dumb crap, you name it. But one thing I’ve never been is a clean freak. I’ve never been totally afraid of getting a virus or sick.

When I was younger, Purell didn’t exist, but if it did, I still wouldn’t have used it. I don’t know. I don’t see the point, I’m not a germophobe. In fact, when I was younger, I never washed my hands when I used the restroom (I do now, thank you very much!). I think stuff like that contributed to my stronger immune system. I also think the fact that my family had a lot of pets over the years helped too.

So this bring me to my conclusion: I’m not going to over-worry about illness with my kids. Sure, I’ll take proper precautions and have them get their appropriate shots. But I’m not going to be a germophobe parent, because I think exposure to things here and there actually helps us when we get older.