Today I went to the doctor, and she told me I have bronchitis and maybe pneumonia. She also told me I should have come in to see her sooner, and I told her that, although it wasn’t personal, I didn’t like going to doctors. Then she laughed at me, and wrote 43 prescriptions for me.

Anyway, although I feel very tired, run down and am extremely low on patience (a good combination for someone like me who has to be with people a lot, many of whom are children), here are the Top Ten Cool Things About Having Bronchitis and Maybe Pneumonia:

10.  When I’m just not in the mood to get things done that I really need to get done, now I have an excuse.

9.   It’s good to have a goal. Tomorrow when I get a chest x-ray, the “maybe” could be dropped, and I could actually have pneumonia. That’s much more impressive.

8.  I suddenly got a lot of sympathy from the family. I actually talked Courtney into going to the store for me.

7.  When I get tired of people and want to lose my temper with them, I can go ahead and lose it, and then say, “Sorry, it’s just that I have bronchitis and maybe pneumonia and I’m not myself.”

6.  There’s a nice woman named Kathy on my worship team at church, who has been bugging me to go the doctor for weeks, because I “might have pneumonia.” Tomorrow I get to tell her she was right, and we all like hearing that we’re right.

5.  I can get out of a meeting tomorrow at school, because I have to go get a chest x-ray (to accomplish #9 above).

4.  I’m going to become a really good speller, because “pneumonia” is kind of a challenge.

3.  I don’t actually have to finish this list, because of the bronchitis and maybe pneumonia thing.