All Swine Flu, All the Time

I know people who are germophobes. I know people who disinfect doorknobs on a regular basis and boil their childrens' toys.

I am not one of these people. I was raised by a stay-at-home mom who kept a clean house, but she didn't stress over us being dirty. Which we were, most often. And so as a result, I keep a clean(ish) house, and I don't stress about hand washing and doorknob disinfection as much as other people do. ST was also raised by a clean, but laid-back mother and claims that if you don't let your kids get dirty you are setting them up as a weakling because they'll never develop immunity to anything.

But the entire community I live in is now in PANIC mode about H1N1. And the university I work in is even worse, since it's basically just a giant germ pool anyway, what with kids living on top of one another in residence and sharing computers in the labs, and books in the library (or at least they would, if they knew where the library was).

There's a mini-bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse right now.

I find myself almost looking over my shoulder for germs. Everywhere people are trying very hard not to shake your hand, there's sanitizer around every corner and people are dutifully coughing into their elbows. It's making me totally paranoid.

So if I look twitchy the next time you see me, just ignore it.