rite of passage

Something I always found interesting is how easy it is to tell which of my work colleagues had toddlers - specifically, toddlers who go to daycare. How? Because they tend to miss a day or two of work each quarter due to that dreaded contagion: Pink eye.

It's like a parenting rite of passage. You do your time as a kid and pass it around your play group circles for awhile, but then you spend decades free of it. Until, BAM! You have toddlers in your home, and if you're a rookie parent like me, you go through several phases before you figure out what's going on:

Phase I: Oh man, look at my eye. It must be dry here...OR I need more sleep.
Phase II: Am I allergic to something? I didn't know I had allergies...maybe there's something in the water that my eyes don't like. I'll wash my face with filtered water tonight and see what it does.
Phase III: Ew, what's going on here? Why is my other eye so pink? *gasps as the dreadful realization dawns* Oh noooo!


Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have gone through this rite of passage and may now join the ranks of my colleagues who proudly wear the title, "Toddler Parent"...and the pink badge that goes with it.

:)