Flu fears curb life's rituals.

I am not quite so sure about the outrage over children no longer being allowed to visit relatives in hospital: I am QUITE sure that I wasn't allowed to see my newborn brother because of a rule about "no kids under 12." And I didn't get to go see other sick relatives until I was after 12. I thought that was a long-standing rule anyway.

But the food thing, yeah. That would hit home pretty hard; in my department we have lots of stuff that people bring in - either someone will bake bread at home and make an extra loaf for the department, or they'll make soup, or something. And telling us we either couldn't, or we had to individually wrap stuff would sort of kill the whole thing.

The biggest thing, though, is the sort of "casual contact" stuff. This came up at Board Meeting the other night at church - one person raised the concern about the fact that during the "passing of the peace," it's standard to either shake hands or hug, and both of those would be off limits if you really wanted to prevent the spread of flu. I (jokingly) suggested we "tater up" instead - I guess most people don't know that term but it's slang for a fist bump - and people kind of went with it. I don't think it will actually happen, when the rubber hits the road, so to speak, but I do think people are now concerned about hugging or handshaking.

And you know, I understand limiting the spread of flu. And I have, myself, abstained from handshaking when I knew I might be infectious, like when I was starting/finishing a cold. (And if I'm REALLY sick, I stay home)

But on the other hand - some weeks, the ONLY physical contact I get (not being married, not having boyfriend, not having kids, not being near family) is shaking hands or being hugged at church, or the brief moment when the nurse touches my arm to administer the allergy shot. And I'm sure that for even a touch-averse person like me, being totally cut off from human contact is probably not healthy. (Cue the scary-news-stories about how not being hugged or such increases your risk of developing Alzheimer's "36%" or some such).

I don't know. It seems to me SO much has changed in recent months - with the economic turmoil, the "new frugality," H1N1 flu, all of that. And I am one of those people who just doesn't like change, especially when it's change that seems likely to be bad or change that requires me to re-pattern my life in some way. ("We fear change" - Garth Elgar). So the thought of departmental potlucks having to cease - or no longer being able to shake hands (or having one of the older ladies who apparently see me as a sort of surrogate daughter grab me and hug me at church) - is not something I really like thinking about.

It's the loss of what I think of as the 'small comforts' of life that bother me the most...I was talking a month or so ago about the new "sugar guidelines" about how you're supposed to sharply limit sugar intake even if you're a healthy person, and how not being able to occasionally have sugar in my tea just felt like...I don't know, a tipping point or something, like "DESPAIR COMMENCE NOW." And I kind of feel that way about maybe the whole "passing of the peace" ending at church, or it devolving into something silly like blowing kisses (that was another suggestion but that seems even more lunatic to me than fist-bumps). And the thought that we might not be allowed to share food in my department any more.

It's good to be careful, but there's a point at which you have to say, Stop, we cannot bubble-wrap the entire world.