I have three children, a full-time job, and hardly any time for myself. Last month, my husband was away and I was down with the flu. With nobody else to help out, I had to get the kids ready on Monday morning, drop them to school and go to work before 9 a.m. However, I was in for a pleasant surprise that morning. There were four bowls of cereal on the table, with a jug of milk, juice, toast and butter all neatly arranged. A minute later, my children came out dressed for school. My oldest daughter, all of 11 had managed to wake her brothers up, get them dressed and the kids had arranged breakfast by the time I was awake. This loving gesture made me proud to be their mother.

I am a student of journalism and my assignments generally involve visiting places, talking to people and reporting incidents. One such assignment was to visit a farm on the outskirts of the city that practices organic farming. I had been down with flu for two days and the fever had left me feeling weak. On the day I was supposed to visit the farm, I could barely walk. However, since this assignment would make a great difference to my semester results, I packed some VapoRub and Benadryl and headed to the farm. Spending a day in the open surprisingly made me feel much better and at the end of the day, I was actually reluctant to leave. As luck would have it, I not only got an A on the assignment but also managed to top the semester.

It was the month of May and I had one exam to go. After a semester of frolic, there was a summer of fun to look forward to after the last exam. This subject—wireless communication—happened to be my least favorite and I had put off studying it till a couple of days before the exam. On the day I had planned a study marathon, I got the flu and the fever shot up. I couldn’t even get off the bed and a 10-hour study session was a distant dream. However, my roommate realized what I was going through and took very good care of me. He even got handwritten notes from a friend who had taken the subject last year. I studied those notes the whole of Sunday while Stan kept changing the ice pack and taking my temperature. On Monday, I took the exam and got a 75%. That evening, I treated Stan to a giant bucket of chicken and a six-pack.

It was my wedding day, a day every woman looks forward to. That morning, I woke up with a severe cold and a few hours later, a cousin who is a doctor told me I had the flu. A contagious illness that leaves one looking sick and pale is the last thing any bride would want on her special day. However, my fiance (now my husband) went the extra mile in making me feel great. He got me soup, made sure I was warm and relaxed till the ceremony and didn’t let me get physically strained. He even explained my condition to the makeup artist who did a very good job covering up my red nose. Despite the flu, I did have a dream wedding and to top it all, the pictures came out great.

I had to fly to Los Angeles last Saturday for a business meeting. On Saturday morning, I woke up feverish, with a running nose and a headache. My wife said it was a good idea if I stayed at home and attended the meeting via video conference. However, my boss didn’t seem to like the proposition. My wife gave me some NyQuil, asked me take a nap and when I woke up, the Powerpoint presentation for that day’s meeting was ready! As it turns out, my wife had not only prepared the presentation material but even managed to convince the boss to let me telecommute.