Heading to the beach and venting just a little bit

Just booked 4 days on St. John at the pricey hotel that is pretty sparsely populated. I realize I probably have had maybe a month of time i could actually spend in pools or the ocean and am really excited about the ability to be outside, relax and possibly take a break and focus on the fish and donkeys and not what may or may not be going on in my body.

I also want to go on a soap box a little bit and encourage anyone I know who is reading this to think hard before taking flights or going on vacation or trips if it seems like you or your family members might have swine flu. I had thought this would be a no brainer for people to understand that even though you might not have serious symptoms exposing others who might be sicker than you might be worth some inconvenience or spending on your part. Then a friend of mine explained how her brother-in-law and family called to say they were postponing their visit since the kids seemed to have the flu and it might be swine flu but once the airline said it would cost a couple of hundred dollars to change the tickets they figured what the hell. That's a plane load of folks exposed and then to put a cherry on top maybe a passle of people at disneyland.

Apparently if the airline isn't willing to waive the change fees why should they feel any responsibility to not expose a plane full of people? Really, do people really think this way? It might be because I'm having a rough year, or because I've spent a week in the hospital with no effective immune system, or the thought that I may well be one of the people who could die from it, but come on. How self-centered do you have to be to not care about those less fortunate? Granted it might not be selfishness, just thoughtlessness, but in any case - shouldn't the fact that you and yours are healthy and doing well be worth saying a word of thanks and possibly postponing your trip to disneyland?

Maybe I'm excessively upset because I've had at least 3 people ask me if it is really okay for me to travel since OTHERS may have swine flu and I could catch something. Recall - I've basically been homebound and avoided crowds and many events to avoid exposure. I've been poisoned, had three surgeries and have about a two-week window to have any sort of summer-time fun. Of course, I also happily pay my taxes, give money to charity, don't need a flat screen tv and also only bought a house I could afford a 20% down-payment on.

So if things are going well for you - can you just stop and appreciate it? And, if you have to postpone your vacation to maybe keep someone else from getting even more seriously ill, just do it and be happy you can.

Of course - given who reads my blog and how terrific you have all been you really aren't the audience of folks who I think would do this. But if you're talking to people and they are wondering whether they should inconvenience themselves when it probably isn't such a big deal maybe remind them that it could be.

I'm off the soap-box and will go to bed now that I will be joining the world of people who stay awake from 8-11.