Monday, February 23, 2009

This one's for you immune system

I was watching the academy awards last night and it was kind of boring, but hearing all of the movie people do their thank you speeches kind of got me thinking about what I'm thankful for... and one thing that really has been standing out to me lately is what an amazing immune system I have. ( I just knocked on my wooden desk... jeez I am getting so superstitious in my old age.)

I feel like I really put my immune system to the test every day, and yet I rarely get sick. Last week I had a cold for like 4 days and that was the sickest I've been for about 2 years... but I wasn't even sick enough to miss a single second of work. In fact I wasn't even sick enough to not ride my bike to work IN THE RAIN every day last week. I was just kind of sleepy and mucusy and that was it. I think someone with a lesser immune system would have gotten pneumonia if they had ridden to work with wet hair and wet socks for 5 days while they were coming down with something, but my immune system just fights like a bad ass soldier no matter how inclement the weather is and no matter how extreme the temperature is and no matter how many desserts I eat while I am feeling less than 100%... Armed only with copious amounts of water, some lemon juice and green tea, my immune system has single handedly fought off all of the common colds, flues and viruses that have been thrown at me over the last few years.

My coworker, Theresa, sits about 5 feet away from me for 9 hours every day and I think I can count on 1 hand the number of days, in the last two years that I have worked with her, that she has not been at least partly sick; yet I have hung tough without even so much as a sniffle for about 360 days of each of the 2 years we've worked together... and on those 5 other days, I still was not debilitatingly sick I was just a little bit more phlegmy and sneezy and honestly I love sneezing... it really is as satisfying as people say it is.

Here is another example of the prowes of my immune system: This one time, in college, I was with my boyfriend at the time, Michael, and we were walking through the parking lot of our dorm when we happened upon an open, used, dirt encrusted stick of deodorant. "what would you pay me to lick that ?" I asked Michael. " you wouldn't lick that" Michael said... so of coarse I had to lick it for free... just to prove that Michael doesn't know everything... and let me tell you that deodorant tasted awful... and the flavor of it did not go away quickly, but let me also tell you I did not even get slightly sick that day... and I think the only way that someone would not get sick after licking a nasty dirty stick of used deodorant is if they have the best immune system in the world... or maybe if the deodorant contains some antibacterial chemical that kills germs and isn't entirely toxic if ingested in really small amounts... either way I think I sure showed Michael that he is not, as he claims to be, omniscient!

.... anyway, back to the topic at hand...

I eat candy and sugary things all the time. I drink almost every weekend. I don't wash my hands every time I got to the bathroom. I do not head the five-second rule. I bite my nails(... actually come to think of it I seem to have stopped biting my nails... hmm imagine that I guess I became less of a nervous nelly at some point and didn't even realize it.) I pretty much do not go out of my way to be particularly healthy at all and yet the vast majority of the time I am healthy.

so I would really just like to take this opportunity to say thank you mom and dad for bestowing me with an excellent immune system and thank you uncontrollable need to constantly drink water for flushing all of the baddies out of my system, but most of all thank you immune system for rocking so hard! You really make my life so much easier and so much better. I love you immune system I just don't know where I'd be without you!

No comments: