This fascinating, somewhat beautiful image of a virus doesn’t express the enormous frustration that I feel at being laid victim to another illness here in Spain.  I thought that I was healthy and strong; I thought that my immune system was working at peak performance.

Shortly after arriving in Barcelona last year, Katie and I - and to a lesser degree, Oscar - suffered an incredibly virulent stomach illness.  Another one followed, but not as intensely.  Life went on and a few colds andflus didn’t scare us in comparison with those first two bouts.

When Oscar started school here in Valencia it was as though we had just landed in a pool of powerful viruses again - I guess we had.  We spent that first week trading illnesses and only had a few days’ rest before the next round.  Blah.

I thought that we were done with them.  I hoped that we were done with them.  But, after our joyous afternoon party this Saturday - joyous for me because it was warm and sunny and we got to take full advantage of our wonderful terrace - I fell ill, again.

Perhaps it was the virus that our friend’s child, Zander, brought with him from Barcelona, perhaps it was drinking too much wine or perhaps, as our friend Anne-Marie warned me, it was the fact that I steadfastly remained barefoot the entire time despite the dwindling warmth of the late afternoon.  It’s hard to say, but I’m using it as an excuse for this quick post; I’m just not focused enough to recount the more interesting stories awaiting publication.  They will have to wait til tomorrow when I will definitely (fingers crossed) be entirely recovered.
Before I sound like I am complaining too much, let me just say that our time here in Spain is very clearly a net positive despite these few illnesses, which in the end aren’t that big a deal.  And I’d also like to thank Anne-Marie for not saying ‘told you so’ when I saw her again today, sniffling and coughing.  Hey, it might not have been my refusal to acknowledge the chill in the air…

More about the party and other goings-on shortly.

Stay tuned…

(Flickr photo by ‘twenty questions’, under Creative Commons license.)