Out sick

So I really don't call in sick to work very often. But I did today And I'm actually sick (don't worry, it's just a summer cold). I could probably count the number of sick days I've ever taken on one hand...and one of those days my tonsil was actually bleeding!
I'm crazy, I know. We should use those days (questionable health or not). But I have a hard time calling in sick even when I really am. I blame my parents because they would never allow me to stay home from school unless I had a fever...and if I had a fever then I had to go to the doctor....so it was worse than school. My husband tells me that his mom (who was a teacher) would let him stay home just because he didn't feel like going to school that day...wha?
Some people can easily call in sick, complain of some fake symptoms and just play around all day or veg in front of the TV. If you can do this without feeling guilt, I applaud you. I'm a wimp.
I also blame my sicko work ethic on my old boss. She would come to work even if she was bleeding out of her eyeballs. She'd come in, complain about how lousy she felt, cough all over the place and make everyone else sick. But if you attempted to call in sick you could just hear the disappointment and disbelief in her voice. So working sick happened often.
Today, I woke up, called my boss, left her a message about how "whatever is going around now has a hold on me" and I needed to stay home. She actually stayed home sick the day before so I knew she would understand. And she did.
I spent the day sleeping, watching Oprah and playing Wii. It was awesome.
Although I still do not endorse playing hooky, there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking a day to chill even if its for your mental health.
To quote one of my favorite movies about the art of calling in sick, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."