In praise of the inherent conservatism of Motherhood

With all that has been going on here in Warwick regarding the mycoplasma outbreak, I need to give public recognition to my wife. When we were informed that the schools throughout the city were shutting down for the rest of the week, my gracious spouse refrained from telling me, "I told you so," though she had every right to do so.

You see, she had kept our own kids out of school since Tuesday, reasoning that it was better to be safe than sorry. She figured that, given the rather ambiguous nature of the assurances uttered by our public health officials, that the conservative (and safe) course of action would be to wait a week for "them" (government officials) to figure out what exactly was going on. I, on the other hand, thought she was overreacting, based on what those very same officials were saying and some of my own "expert" research at WebMD, eMedicine and Wikipedia (heh).

Nonetheless, I did defer to her based on the well-established and scientifically proven fact that wives--especially those who are also mothers--are always right. Whether you want to call it mother's intuition or the she-bear protective instinct, events have borne out her intial suspicions. Never again will I question her instincts when it comes to the safety of our children. "The hand that rocks the cradle; Is the hand that rules the world"?

Yes. And my wife definitely has "hand."