Swine Flu Phobia

I am not sure what all of the debate is about.  I have heard on the news that President Obama is trying to calm people's fears about taking the Swine Flu Vaccination.  You know,  it is really a  moot point.  There is so little vaccine out there that the problem is not people refusing to take it,  but people who want it not getting it.   At first the announcement was that only 2 year old children were going to get it.  But there wasn't enough to go around so only healthcare workers are being vaccinated at this time.

About 75% of our second grade was absent with Swine Flu last week.  Several schools in the DFW area are closing for the week because 50% of the kids are out with Swine Flu.  It must really be in style to have the flu because Joe was telling me a couple of days ago that he can't wait until he gets the Swine flu so that he can get a break from school.  I informed him that even though he wouldn't be  in school he would get the privelege of doing his school work.

I am grateful that the flu is not as deadly as the experts were predicting last spring.  My great grandmother, Grace May Haworth survived a really tough flu epidemic in Arkansas in the 1880's..   She was married and had two little boys.  Complications of the flu killed her husband and both of her children.  She was so devastated.  The mother in me wants to reach back through the years and comfort her.  Her own mother probably would have tried to comfort her, but she died in that big flu epidemic too.  I have heard about how bitter and mean spirited she became after facing these devastating trials.  She remarried a widower and became the wicked stepmother to his two children.  She had at least 8 more children with my great grandfather, James Hardee. But she could never contain her bitterness.  I have spoken with a descendent of the daughter Vergie Hardee from his first marriage, and she confirmed how hard it was for her grandmother when Grace May became part of her life.  Vergiewas kicked out of the house when she was 14 and went to live at a State School.  This wasn't a great place but it was better than living under the tyrrany of Grace. I wish the story had a good ending, like Grace started to feel better and everything was okay after that, but the situaton went from bad to worse. 

Ambus Hardee, James' son from his first marriage died in a boiler explosion on the USS San Diego off of the coast of Mexico in 1915 when the US Navy was gearing up for WWI.  Now James was in a spot similar to his second wife.  He had lost his first wife and one of his children to death and the other had no contact with him. James lost his footing and hope..  He just gave up, or as Grandma Stockam said, "He had three farms, he would sell one then drink it up, then sell the next, then the next."  The family had no resources and that is when Grace Mae took her kids and moved to Mounds, Oklahoma.

I could go on about the family's trouble and I may in a future blog post.  It is not a pretty story.

I think we can learn something from the hardships they experienced.  First of all, get the flu vaccine if you possibly can.  Second, you never know just how hard of a life people have had, so try to be gentle and kind even to those who do not appear as if they deserve this treatment.  Third, if you experience a great loss don't punish everyone else in your life.  Fourth, try to find joy in what you have.  Fifth, if you dwell on really sad thoughts you become weird.