Jeanne PhillipsDEAR ABBY: I feel like a terrible wife when my husband gets sick with a run-of-the-mill cold. Men can be terrible babies when they are sick. It is a cold! He’s not dying. I have a cold right now, and I’m functioning just fine. Also, I am not his mother! When he whines, I shut down. If he doesn’t whine, I’m happy to take care of him, but I can’t lie in bed with him (I work from home, so I am accessible) to keep him warm. I can’t stay up until midnight rubbing his back, and I can’t tolerate the whining. I made him aware of my disdain for the way sick men behave, but he still acts like the world is ending when he has a cold. How do I tend to him without feeling resentful? – NOT HIS MOTHER
DEAR NOT HIS MOTHER: Cold season is in full swing. Your husband didn’t catch one on purpose. When people feel fragile they need TLC.
Here’s how to “tend” to him: Keep a supply of chicken soup on hand, and insist he keep drinking it to stay hydrated. Chicken soup has magical curative powers. If he has a headache, there are over-the-counter meds he can take, so suggest it when he complains. Buy a heating pad so you can keep working if he has the chills. Sanitize any surface he may have touched.
Try to appear to be sympathetic and keep your sense of humor. And sleep apart until he’s no longer contagious, which may give him an incentive to recover faster.
DEAR ABBY: Every year, my adult siblings and mother exchange Christmas gifts. Since my husband died in 2012, my sister has told me she has made a gift in our name to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. She also makes a production of telling this to my children.