After a full week, my kids have finally emerged from their swine caves and have re-entered society, going back to school today.

My germaphobic wife’s biggest fear in the world (aside from a potential delay in the production of the latest Twilight series movie – New Moon) was getting swine flu. She made this startling comment while shivering on the couch last week.

"I better have the swine flu."

To think that this was just a precursor to something worse was unimaginable.

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"If he has trouble breathing, bring him in immediately," the nurse practitioner said earlier today. Or was it yesterday? I’m so tired. I’m typing in the dark, watching Charlie sleep. Listening to his breathing. It’s 3:56 am.

I’m fully dressed in middle of the night emergency attire. Yankees baseball cap to cover bed head and big bags under my eyes. Wrinkled first-I-could-find shirt probably on backwards. I’m writing to stay awake. 30 minutes ago I carried Charlie’s burning body downstairs and got ready to take him to the ER. He was glassy-eyed with a very high fever and coughed a horribly painful cough when he tried to speak. We looked at each other nervously.

We were doing our rounds, Susanne and I, shooting grape-flavored Motrin into the mouths of our two other kids.

Three kids with the swine flu.

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I’m not the guy who worries. I’m the glass half-full guy who says that everything will be fine. Mister "it’s probably nothing."

When confronted with something potentially scary, I become this guy:

"Carey, did you hear that noise coming from the kitchen?"

"It’s nothing. Let’s go back to bed."

"Carey, there are people walking around in our kitchen!"

"It’s just mice. Let’s go back to bed."

"Carey! Those are heavy footsteps and they’re whispering to each other!"

"Talking unicorns. Pretty common this time of year. Come on, let’s go back to bed. It’s late."

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I despise politics -- political or office or otherwise. First I don't really understand much of it and second I just don't see why people have to act like high school all the time.

It's only been recently that I paid much attention to the presidential election. I remember voting in my first presidential election; I was a senior in college and voting by absentee ballot. I felt it was my civic duty to vote, but I couldn't figure out what the real issues were because there was so much mud slinging. The guy I voted for won, but I remember thinking "He hasn't done such a bad job the last four years, so he's probably the lesser of the two evils." Yes, that's seriously what I based my vote on.

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