Dear Santa

Every year I do the same song and dance by gifting everyone hand sanitizer and being overly dramatic when people sneeze so they know just how dire it is that I not get sick. Just like clock work, right before Christmas, someones icky germs manage to cha-cha-slide directly into my immune system and I become bed ridden for multiple days. This year I swore I was going to dodge the bullet. I drank tons on Emergen-C, ate tons of ginger and I even limited the amount of deep breathes I took on the plane but none of it worked. Here I sit..lethargic with my head feeling like a balloon. So my question is this, Why do people openly cough and sneeze without covering their mouth? I grew up in a household where we covered our mouths when we yawned, sneezed , burped, coughed or even pooted. Everything deserved an "excuse me" and a supreme effort to not let any one else catch or smell something coming our bodies. It baffles me when people legit sneeze into the air like the general public is begging to have your cooties. Where are the manners? As someone who takes pride in giving people personal space and making sure that I don't spread my sickness, I just don't understand how other folks don't extend the same courtesy. Flu season is only a season because of "air sneezers." Tell me i'm lying. When I feel as sickly as I do now, it makes me want to blow up a raft and sail away to a far away land where "Wilson" and I can be healthy and tan. If you've never seen Castway you probably don't understand that reference but I don't care. What makes matters worse is, since moving to LA my common colds seem to be more and more aggressive. They come with loss of appetite, sore throat, drowsiness, fever, chills, muscle aches and a bad attitude. My Atlanta colds consisted of the sniffles and a few days of not being able to eat Waffle House. I'm starting to believe that it may be a combination of severe head colds, sinus issues, folks who are super nasty and the terrible air out here. Either way, I'm big mad. I don't consider myself to be a hippie but I tend to take the holistic approach to treating myself as well which makes my healing process even longer than the norm. I know i'm not the only person that feels like people should cover their mouth so this epic rant turned blog should get a "Hell yeah" by at least three people on the back row. So in conclusion, If I had one wish this holiday season it would be for everyone to keep their Achooo to themselves. Stop sneezing. Hold it in. Yes. Thank you.