Don’t worry, I do not have the mumps (at least not yet….) but my neighbor has them. The poor boy passed out in the hallway the other day, and if it wasn’t for the wonderful ladies who have to clean our dorm, who knows how long the poor kid would have been there? He’s a nice guy, I don’t know him that well, but he seems shy and quiet, and not that social, so I got worried when Liz (the wonderful woman who cleans my side of the dorms) told me he had gotten ill. Luckily there was no real cause for worry about his well-being. My R.A. Esther and my partner’s in crime Jade and Cecile checked in on him every few hours, made sure that he got meals, and sweet talked a GP into an appointment so that he could get a proper diagnosis and make sure that there wasn’t something seriously wrong with him. The head of accommodations for our hall has checked on him, and the 4th floor students who don’t suck at life (meaning the ones who are not undergrads) have been asking about him and offering to help get him to and from the doctor or bring him meals. I know how bad it is to be homesick, and I really know how bad it can be when you are too sick to function and how badly you just want your mommy to come take care of you and tell you everything will be okay. His mom isn’t here, but he has the next best thing, he has Mama Jade, fearlessly leading the charge to make sure this kid is taken care of.

I’m envious of her. She didn’t think twice about helping him, and she shut down people who questioned why she would put herself at risk for someone who can clearly take care of himself (shit, I’m 25 years old, but the minute I get even the slightest fever or on days when the pain in my hands and feet are really bad I turn into a 5 year old and just want my mom). She even used her handy mini fridge to make him an ice pack because she knew that the cold would make him feel better. She did all of this without the slightest thought to her own health. I stopped in to see him a couple of times, and told him that he could come knock on my door if he needed anything, but truth is, I am scared that he is still contagious.  I do not want to get sick. I’ve had my shots, but if I get sick now there is no way that I will be able to go home for Christmas, and I desperately want to see my family. I feel completely selfish. This poor kid is all alone, passing out in hallways, and feeling like crap, and the only thing that I can think about is my own crappy immune system and how I desperately want to go home for Christmas. His needs far outweigh mine right now, so I open this up to everyone: What sort of comforts do you like when you are sick? What can I do to make him feel better? Part of this is to assuage my own guilt for not being as fearless as Jade, and part of this is to help him since he will most likely be feeling like crap for the better part of a month. I don’t know how to help boys feel comforted, so all my three or so male readers, can you help me out with this one?

Don’t say porn. I know where the sex shop is here, but I am not going to buy porn and risk someone seeing me with it. I am a lady after all.