What To Do With a Sick Genealogist?

You know how it is; you wake up with the achy bones, sneezy nose and sore throat. Is it a cold or the flu or a combination of the two? In Spanish it is called gripe, in French influenza, in German grippe; but whatever you call it, it is miserable stuff. This has been through our house numerous times this spring and I managed to escape the evil curse until this week. For that I am very grateful, as I had several lectures to give and the last thing I wanted was to loose my voice.


Doctors are unsure how to diagnose it or how to treat it. Mostly they say get some rest and try not to share it with others. Some other suggestions are to gargle, drink hot liquids, blow your nose often, take a steamy shower, use hot or cold packs on your forehead, sleep with an extra pillow, and don't fly. Over the counter medications are abundant, the trick is knowing which one will work for you. If it turns into a bacterial infection you will usually need antibiotics.
My two favorite things when I am sick are chicken noodle soup and a fizzy drink. These are comfort foods. Of course chocolate is also very soothing. So what do you do when you come down with the dreaded curse?

Gratefully I do not have some big client projects that are on a timeline. The week before I could feel something coming on, so I worked on a project that required visiting two local repositories. Then I pushed myself to write the client report while my brain could still process the information. By Monday I did not feel like doing anything for any lengthy period of time, so for the rest of the week I bounced from one activity to another, as my endurance would allow.

Tonight I finished reading the budget report for our city, as the meeting is next week. I am on the Budget Committee, Library Board, and Park and Recreation Board.  The Budget Committee and Park and Recreation Board only meet once a year, so it is not a big commitment. The Library Board meets once a month, and has the most potential payback for me. They allow me to have input into city decisions, as with the new library being built in the next two years. Genealogy is often discussed.
Then I have worked some on two book reviews for our local publication. The articles that I need to write will have to wait until I feel better.

So, as I became increasingly more bored I turned to facebook.com. This is an amazing tool for connecting with family, friends and fellow genealogists. At the beginning of the week I had about 35 friends. Now I have over 200 and 100 of them are genealogists. One group of genealogists has over fifty of us linked together. This is not something that I would normally have time to do.
Another reason for spending time on facebook was to visit the pages of two very special women who passed away recently. The most touching thing for one was the video created for her memorial service. We certainly have some beautiful tools for remembering the people in our lives, both living and those who have passed on. For the Drake family, they created "The Greatest Drake!!!" page, and invited me to be a participant.

So, you may feel that social networking is not for you, but you will miss out on opportunities to connect with family, friends and even some great genealogists. The computer is truly a marvelous tool and one we should take advantage of. I encourage you, when you have a little down time, to explore the social network websites. Be very careful not to get the gripe, but if you do remember to pace yourself and allow plenty of time to recover.