I get a fever

When I was a little girl, I was sick a lot. Between my evil tonsils and my rotten ears, I was down for the count pretty often with tonsillitis, bronchitis, ear infections, strep throat and—in second grade—mononucleosis. And I tended to pick up any gut virus floating around, something that’s continued to plague me as an adult.

My mother would make me soft boiled eggs on saltines, and I got to drink ginger ale then too. It’s funny, I don’t turn to ginger ale any more when I get sick (probably too closely associated with the various stomach bugs I got), but I still love the soft boiled eggs on crackers.

I will say that no one else in my family loves them the way I do. In fact, they all turn away in disgust. Yes, the eggs are soft and bland (some would say slimy)  but isn't that the point? To eat something soft that won’t hurt a tender throat or upset an already roiling gut? Plus they’re easy to make: simply slip an egg or two into barely boiling water and let them simmer for three minutes. Take them out, crack them open and spoon them over the crumbled-up saltines. Add salt if you so prefer (which I do) and then gratefully eat the supreme comfort meal.

It's a hard boiled egg, but
doesn't it look like a chicken chef?

Kent demonstrated the depth of his love for me a few years back after one of my many surgeries. I really, really wanted the eggs but hadn't recovered enough to go make them. So he did it for me, manfully swallowing his gorge over something he finds so gross. Sad really, if he tried them I think he would like them. Or maybe not.

Anyway, I came home from work last night running a fever over 102F. I haven’t run a fever in years. And I could tell from how I felt that it was almost certainly going to be an unpleasant night with my innards. So I made some soft-boiled eggs on crackers because I was hungry but didn't want to inflame things more by eating something less soft or bland. I thought about taking a picture of them last night to share with you all. I didn't  both because I felt so crappy and also they wouldn't photograph well at all. They look very white and bland—mostly white eggs on all white crackers. But they tasted great.