Unjinxing My Jinxes

I realized something over the weekend. And I almost wrote about it. But then I thought if I wrote it, I would jinx it. So I didn't write it. But then I thought that maybe if, in my writing, I acknowledged that I might be jinxing it, it would counteract the jinx. Unjinx the jinx. Right?*

So here it is: If I can manage to stay healthy for just THREE more days, I will have gone an entire QUARTER without being sick a single time!!!

A few things.

1. Teachers are sick all the time because they are exposed to sooooo many germs. Let's face it - kids aren't really known for washing their hands regularly. Teachers overseas are even more susceptible because of all the foreign bacteria and germs our immune systems have never encountered before. Sometimes I feel like my body encounters these new germs and mistakes them for friends and invites them in for tea.

2. I was beginning to think my body had just rejected Indonesia altogether. I have had SO many different illnesses and ailments since moving here - allergies, kidney infections, weeks of diarrhea, burns, severe food poisoning, parasites, the flu, insomnia, terrifying nightmares, migraines, dehydration, gum infections, random fevers, and bedbugs, just to name a few. ALL things I never had in America (with the exception of the flu, which I contracted roughly once every 5 years in America, compared to the four times I got it in one quarter here a few years back).

3. The most noteworthy part - this is the longest I have gone in FOUR YEARS without being sick! I have been sick at least once a month - sometimes two or three times, or sometimes with multiple ailments at the same time - for the past four years. This being healthy thing is really amazing, and I'm kind of loving it! Can I get an alhamdulillah?




*I'm not superstitious. But I am a little stitious.