I was sick this past weekend. Nothing horrible, but certainly not very fun either. A cough, sore throat, headache– you know, the rundown of a basic chest cold.
We’ve published articles before about how to deal with getting sick in college (such as this one, this one, and this one), so I’m going to put a bit of a different spin on this. I’m going to talk about how getting physically sick made me get homesick.
I actually enjoyed being sick when I was little. Not actually, properly sick. But I’d get excited if I ran a slight fever or threw up my breakfast. Just sick enough to miss school, to convince my mom to take care of me. I could spend the day in bed watching TV and eating chicken noodle soup out of my Woody mug. It was the life.
And then I got to college and realized that a sore throat wasn’t enough to make all my responsibilities grind to a halt. I still had a test today. Still had to read 160 pages. Still had to write this article. I’m in college (and this will be true in adult life too, but I don’t want to have to deal with adult life yet) and that means I have to take care of my sick self.
It wasn’t laziness that I found myself missing this weekend. It was the simplicity of it all, the comfort of knowing responsibilities didn’t matter and I could focus on getting better. That’s what I wanted. A cozy bed in sheets that I didn’t wash. Warm soup in a Toy Story mug that we ordered from the back of a cereal box. My mom easing open the door to see if I’m asleep or if there’s anything I need.
I miss being little, and I miss thinking spelling tests were a big deal. I know it won’t be too long before I look at no, and I’ll miss being young and thinking psych exams are a big deal. That’s how life works, right? You think you’re stressed and then you move on to the next stage, and you realize it’s been a walk in the park so far. I don’t mind reflecting on my life through rose-colored glasses. In fact, I hope my memory airbrushes this college experience. I hope I forget flipping through flashcards in the moments before an exam and reading until the letters don’t look like words anymore. I hope I look back and remember laughing in the dining hall and lying on the floor gossiping at 3am.
I hope I remember college the way I remember being sick in middle school. Sure, I had a headache and I threw up in the morning. But I was safe, and I was loved, and there were always people willing to help out.
Photos: Christina Ballard