Contagious!

I have alluded to recent illness but felt it was time to come clean, we had the dreaded "Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease" Actually only Liana had it this time, perfectly timed to miss her 2nd Tap class, her regular dental check-up, the first week of pre-school, and 2 weeks of church.
As we were biding our time indoors, not exposing our secret illness to others, I had a lot of time to reflect, if not a lot of time to write it down, and so, here are a few thoughts I came up with.

1-Sometimes you just have to quarantine yourselves, for the good of all.
2-Sometimes you have to break your quarantine so you and your children don't go crazy!
3-If you are breaking quarantine go to the grocery store that is farthest away from your home, this way you not only get a longer break from being cooped up, but you also avoid seeing people from your play group/ward/school/etc. who know you have the dreaded disease.
4-If you see someone you know at the farthest away grocery store, try not to let them see you, if they do, nod politely but do not engage in conversation - Remember, plausible deniability is your friend, and the less details the better. All it takes is one person saying that they saw you "spreading the plague" and you will be blamed for whole outbreak, even if your child was the last one to get it.
5 - Do not tell people who don't have children the name of the disease your child has. trust me, you say "Hand, Foot and Mouth" they hear "Hoof and Mouth" and you are never invited to another BBQ again.
- and finally,
6 - If you don't like what your pediatrician says is the correct amount of time to wait before rejoining the populace, ask your friends what their doctor/advice nurse said and choose your favorite answer.