By Christine Reinle
I keep hearing about this Swine Flu. It’s in the papers on the radio and on TV. With school back in session we need to teach our children to wash hands, cover their mouths when coughing and stay home when sick.
There will always be that parent or guardian that needs for their child to go to school even when ill. Thanks but no thanks. Take the day off from work, exercising or whatever it is you do during the day, so your child does not infect others.
OK so what can we get out of this? Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is the saying my father would repeat to me and my sibs “If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.” Alleluia! How quickly we forget what is truly important. It’s hard to imagine when you’re healthy, but, if you’ve ever had food poisoning or intrusive surgery you know what it feels like to be ill. It’s not fun. Your mind is intact but your body is not functioning properly. You can’t help anybody else, because you can barely help yourself. At some point in our lives, we all have to deal with the illness of a loved one. How sad. How draining, how depressing. When you have a family to take care of, it makes it more difficult to stay upbeat and attend to their needs. The power of positive thinking does prevail. Crying helps to release built-up angst, anger and sadness, so go ahead and cry. Then get back on track and think positively.
These life experiences affect men and women differently. Men are raised not to show weakness. My father is this man. When he was sick last year, I heard that he hadn’t eaten in a week. I was so sad! I cried. I prayed. My dad loves food, so this was a huge deal. I called and sent many of his favorite foods. One of his favorites is ice-cream. He loves ice-cream. Ice cream in a big bowl with bananas, chocolate fudge syrup and whipped cream…yummy. I remember one time he went on the “Atkins” diet, you know the one where you can eat carbs and supposedly lose weight. Well, when I caught him eating ice cream, he said he was making up for the week before. I remember when I was a weight loss counselor for Jenny Craig. Overweight people would come in and order their weekly meals. The next week they would come back and say they ate their weekly meals in one day. Needless to say, these diets did not work. The power of positive thinking did though, and, today, my wonderfully funny father is back to shooting pool, golfing, swimming and enjoying his retirement.
When someone we love is hurt or ill, we tend to appreciate them more and think about all the wonderfulness they brought to our lives. I say let’s try, for one week to appreciate the people that are most important to us. Let’s not wait for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, or occasions. Let’s just for one week try to bite our tongues and be more loving. I don’t want to take people and things for granted. I want to value that my parents love me, that my husband loves me, that my children love me, that my pets and friends love me. Even if they made some mistakes, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and hope to know they did the best they knew how. I want to let them know now, today. Sharing the day, the moments, the minutes….that is all you need to give. 
Christine Reinle was born on the island of Manhattan, and grew up in New Jersey. She now lives with her family in the Northeast. She has been a successful entrepreneur and is currently working towards her advanced degree in clinical psychology. In her free time she observes and writes about the cultural anthropology of life in the "haute" suburbs.