Dear January

January, we've had our differences in the past. You are the month associated with going back to school or work after Christmas vacation. You arrive, and we note a lack of holiday celebrations in the near future. You are the epitome of winter, and don't even have the decency to be a short month. Instead, you are the maximum at 31 days. The nerve of you! And if all that weren't enough, you contain within your boundaries the most depressing day of the year (despite the controversy, I still believe it's true).

But January, since we moved to Denver you had a chance to make amends. With your spring-like weather (well, spring-like for an Albertan), and family ski week, you held out a hand of reconciliation. 2010 started out hopefully enough. The kids got colds, but in what month doesn't that happen? I even began looking forward to you as the month in which Isaac would begin sleeping better. Alas, this false hope was part of your larger scheme.

The kids recovered from their initial cold well enough. Anna embarked upon her first ski trip with her Dad and had a rolicking good time with her cousins. I remained at home, glad to have only one child to attend to (ironic, since this same scenario a year earlier would have sent me into conniptions). All seemed well.
And then you sent an army of viruses into our midst, taking down the youngest first and then moving up the chain of command with methodical precision. And no minor cold, this. Instead, you brought ear infections, jarring coughs, rivers of mucous, sore throats, and the worst of all: asthma attacks.

This last symptom was your goal all along, wasn't it, January? A stealth wheeze such that no parent could have been aware that the exhaustion of our toddler was due to hypoxia rather than simple illness. No increase in respiratory rate, no audible whistling in the breath - merely glassy eyes and low energy. Your fatal mistake, however, was adding an ear infection into the mix: a pain that could not be ignored and brought us to the doctor where your treachery was unearthed.

January, as I sit here hacking and sleepless I bid you adieu. Until we meet again, in 2011.