When we were out to dinner on Saturday night at Lindo Michoacan, I had mentioned to the hostess it was Tom’s birthday, thinking he might get a complimentary drink or dessert. Moments before the staff came to our table, they celebrated a little girl who also had a birthday on December 23.
The waitstaff sang the birthday song at her table after they’d placed an oversized sombrero on her head. When Tom saw this, he said, “Oh, that hat must be dirty from being on so many heads!” I shrugged it off. We’ve often been exposed to things others have handled, sick or not. I’ve often thought about those pagers you get in restaurants while waiting to be alerted that your table is ready.
Moments later, they came to our table; they handed Tom a complimentary Mexican dessert, plopped the oversized sombrero on his head, and sang the song. Trying to be a good sport, Tom went along with it, although it was evident that he was horrified he had that germy hat on his head for what proved to be no more than three minutes.
He ate the dessert, and we continued the lively conversation with Richard. Yesterday, three days later, he started sneezing like crazy, with his nose running incessantly. Most likely, it’s a cold, but the question in our minds is, “Did he catch a cold from the sombrero?”
There is no other location we’ve been to since we arrived except for Costco and Smith’s Marketplace. He certainly could have caught it in either of those two locations.
I got out my arsenal of cold treatment products: zinc, Vitamin C, Tylenol (Paracetamol), and a twice-a-day nasal spray. When Tom grew up in a large family, they didn’t use Kleenex. Instead, he learned to “sniff it back up” rather than blow his nose. As a result, he refuses to blow his nose and sniffs every 30 seconds.
Need I say, the constant sniffing is very annoying, but I don’t say a word. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Tom, I am not implying you are an “old” dog but more a mature dog with well-established habits that I can’t change, especially not by nagging, which I prefer not to do.
Fortunately, he sleeps on his right side at night, and I sleep on my left, so we aren’t facing one another. Plus, the bed here is king-sized, which helps us keep our distance under these circumstances. I hope I don’t get it, and I am making every effort to avoid doing so.
We do not expect this cold to be Covid or RSV. He has no apparent symptoms of either. So far, he has no cough, sore throat, or headache. These days, after the pandemic, it’s easy to surmise one may have something more severe than a simple cold. We are keeping a close eye on his symptoms.
Did he catch the cold from the sombrero? Perhaps. Perhaps not. We’ll never know for sure.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, December 27, 2013:
