A hell of a way to get out of work
I'm taking a sick day today. Not because I'm sick; I couldn't be healthier. It's because my children were sick yesterday, and my wife is horrendously sick today. Basically, she called in sick. The kids are 7, 3 and 1, and they're not going to watch themselves. So, I stayed home. And, I might add, I'm working way harder than I would be had I gone to the office.

I was once very proud of never having taken a sick day. I used one sick day between 1986 and 1998. That's not a typo; that's one in 12 years. It's not because I'm a workaholic (really); I just don't get sick very often, and when I did, it always seemed to be on my days off or during vacations. And I have an annoying conscience that prevented me from taking a discretionary sick day.

Since my second child was born, however, I've come close to using my allotment every year; occasionally for me, more often because I need to stay home with kids because the truly vital employee -- The Wife -- is out of service. She's pretty tough, but she catches everything they catch, and she caught this one full-on. It takes a lot to knock her offline. Send her some get-well wishes.